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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28785987">Nightingale</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquirrelNo2/pseuds/SquirrelNo2'>SquirrelNo2</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Comic Book Violence, Enemies to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Multi, Secret Identity, Tags May Change</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:47:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,201</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28785987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquirrelNo2/pseuds/SquirrelNo2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Julie Molina is powered, and like all known powered kids, she attends one of the many government schools designed to teach students to control their powers and use them as superheroes for the good of the world. After her mother's death, it's hard to imagine any other use for her powerful voice than fighting.<br/>But when she and her school-assigned teammates discover three boys, former students frozen in time for two and a half decades, the secrets that hold Julie's world aloft begin to unravel, leaving Julie and her friends to figure out for themselves where their true value lies.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Mercer/Willie/Nick (Julie and the Phantoms), Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>132</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Wake Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annaelle/gifts">Annaelle</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/PJO_Connoisseur/gifts">PJO_Connoisseur</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey. So. This is not the fic I set out to start writing this morning.<br/>I woke up at 4:30 am, just barely, and started to plan the next fic in the Instrument of Chaos series only to realise that for some reason I was imagining Carrie going to Batman for help? This disaster just unspooled from there. I spent like three hours on discord tossing ideas back and forth with the incomparable Annaelle and PJO_Connoisseur (whose ao3 name still throws me for a loop every time) who basically handed me all the best bits of this concept on a silver platter. Really. This one goes out to them in a big way.<br/>Anyway if you are here because you expected a different fic in my ongoing series, I am very sorry and I swear I will attempt to maintain a good update schedule on that once it starts as well. I just. This ate my brain and also there is a part of me that wants to parade this before my friends who helped brainstorm like "look at this! I did good! Please like me!"<br/>Also. Like. Superheroes and Julie and the Phantoms are two major special interests of mine, they have collided. I'm not sorry about this.<br/>As a final note, this may get dark - you'll see by the end that I plant my "gritty superhero vibes" flag soundly in this ground and I'm not likely to budge because I really want to talk about the Implications of teenage superheroes. But I don't want to write anything I wouldn't have felt comfortable reading as a teenager? I don't get graphic, so you can rest soundly in that. If you have any concerns or questions let me know; just be aware that the outline for this fic is fairly broad and a lot of details (even certain ships) are subject to change/</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s all clear on this side,” Nightingale said. She eyed the abandoned warehouse, trying to figure out her best way in. She could break a window, but if somebody was inside she’d end up tipping them off. “Flynn?”</p><p>“What, after all that speech earlier no codename for me?” her best friend asked.</p><p>“I am <em>not</em> calling you Superwoman,” Nightingale said. "Or Our Lady of Spandex. Pick a good codename."</p><p>“Fine, it’s my funeral,” Flynn said. “Also, there’s two guys on my side.”</p><p>“So stop talking and take them <em>out</em>,” The Queen snapped. Nightingale rolled her eyes. “Oh, wait, you can’t. Because you’re useless.”</p><p>“And yet, here I am, on a team with you,” Flynn said.</p><p>“Everybody needs a sidekick,” The Queen replied. “Or a mascot.”</p><p>“Hey, come on,” Topflight said. “Look, I’m close, I’ll just come over and help Flynn.”</p><p>“I’m fine,” Flynn said irritably.</p><p>“Flynn,” Nightingale said. She knew exactly what the power was that Flynn didn’t want to use, and she knew Flynn wasn’t about to use it on two random goons.</p><p>“Fine, come on over, we’ll have a party,” Flynn said. “Happy, Queenie?”</p><p>“Not with you around,” she muttered.</p><p>“Guys, can we get along long enough to get this done?” Nightingale pleaded.</p><p>“Whatever,” The Queen muttered. “I’m in.”</p><p>“Anybody there?” Nightingale prompted.</p><p>“Does it matter?”</p><p>“Queen, come on,” Topflight said.</p><p>“Two,” she said. “They’re on our side now, obviously.”</p><p>“Oh, obviously,” Flynn muttered. “Because taking away people’s agency is just a cute fun hero thing to do.”</p><p>“Flynn, come on,” Nightingale said quietly as The Queen cursed at her.</p><p>“Watch your language, comms are monitored,” Flynn said sourly.</p><p>“Everybody just calm down,” Nightingale said. “Topflight, what’s your status?”</p><p>There was a thud. Nightingale winced. So much for the subtle approach.</p><p>“We’re good,” he said. “Move in?”</p><p>Nightingale winced at the question in his tone.</p><p>“Sounds like a plan,” she said supportively. Hopefully it would read enough like team leadership to their teachers that he wouldn’t get marked down for it.</p><p>“Finally,” The Queen said.</p><p>Nightingale sighed and hopped up onto the first floor windowsill, testing the windows. They didn’t open, and she didn’t like the idea of free-climbing the walls to the next floor where the office spaces were.</p><p>“Well, the subtle approach was a goner anyway,” she muttered. She retreated from the building, took a deep breath, and shrieked. The glass shattered.</p><p>“A little warning?” The Queen snapped as Nightingale approached her new entrance.</p><p>“Sorry,” Nightingale said. She climbed inside, only to freeze at the sound of feet approaching rapidly. “Please tell me you’re on my end of the building.”</p><p>“Nick was closest,” Flynn said. “Sorry, <em>Topflight.</em> And now he’s with me.”</p><p>“Why would I come to <em>you</em>?” The Queen asked snidely. Nightingale groaned and turned to face the newcomer.</p><p>A man in a security guard’s uniform rounded the corner. His hand went to his hip for a weapon, and Nightingale hastily pulled out the first song she could think of.</p><p>“<em>Here’s one thing I want you to know,</em>” she sang, watching the familiar glaze come over his eyes. She sang him all the way out the window and stopped just before the chorus, heart heavy.</p><p>“Julie,” Flynn said quietly. “That was your mom’s song.”</p><p>“I know,” Julie said.</p><p>“Jules –“</p><p>“I’m fine, Flynn!” Nightingale snapped, straightening up. “I’m going to poke around. Has anybody else seen guards inside?”</p><p>“Just a skeleton crew, like we thought,” Topflight said. “Nobody inside. It’s just an old villain’s warehouse.”</p><p>“Then why was he inside?” Nightingale said, peering down the hallway the way the guard had come. “He wasn’t guarding these windows, it took him too long to get here.”</p><p>“This is not the plan,” The Queen said.</p><p>“Who cares? If we’re supposed to be superheroes, then Nightingale is just doing her job,” Flynn snapped. “An abandoned villain’s lair, and none of you want to know what exactly is going on that we’re supposed to take it back from private hands? This place has been undisturbed for years. I think we deserve to know what’s changed.”</p><p>Nightingale ignored the debate as she crept deeper into the building. She heard a rustle, and more footsteps: at least one more guard. She hummed quietly as she crept toward the sound.</p><p>“Did you say something?” a man said.</p><p>“No. Is that Bill?”</p><p>Nightingale waited just around the corner until she heard two soft thumps – the telltale sound of adults passing out. Still humming in case there were more guards, she stepped cautiously around the corner.</p><p>The guards had been in front of a door, thick steel with a lock on it that looked surprisingly space-aged for a building that hadn’t been in use since the nineties. Nightingale inspected the keypad.</p><p>“Flynn,” she whispered. “I’ve got a lock here.”</p><p>“What are we talking?” Flynn said. “How fast do you need me to get to you?”</p><p>“It’s electronic, looks like retina and voice match,” Nightingale said. “I could do the voice, but…”</p><p>“Will one of the guards work?”</p><p>Nightingale hoisted the closest one up, grunting with the effort. She wrinkled her nose as she peeled one of his eyelids open.</p><p>The lights on the lock blinked red.</p><p>“Not this one,” she said. “Probably not the other one.”</p><p>“Try the voice,” Flynn said. “I’m on my way to you.”</p><p>“That’s not the plan!” The Queen hissed.</p><p>“Like I care,” Flynn said. “Besides, Topflight is on his way to you. Or do you think the two of you can’t handle it?”</p><p>The Queen didn’t have a comeback to that one. Nightingale resumed humming, to make sure the guards stayed out while she waited for Flynn.</p><p>“Here,” Flynn said a few minutes later. Nightingale smiled at her and started running her voice through registers, trying to find the right sound to unlock the door.</p><p>One light flickered green, and there was a small clunk.</p><p>“One down, one to go,” Flynn said, kneeling down and pulling a bundle from her belt. She started to fiddle with the lock, holding up a little flashlight-looking thing to the scanner and using what looked like a screwdriver on a section of the panel. It paid to have a friend who was trained in support methods, no matter what The Queen liked to say.</p><p>“There we go,” Flynn said as the door unlocked. It tried to swing open, but age and dust meant it moved only an inch. Nightingale and Flynn glanced at each other, then pushed it open together.</p><p>“Oh my god,” Flynn said.</p><p>Lit with an unearthly blue light was a row of bodies – perfectly preserved, eyes open and staring blankly ahead, not even enclosed in glass or anything.</p><p>“Did somebody, like, taxidermy them?” Flynn asked in a horrified whisper.</p><p>“Did somebody <em>what</em>?” The Queen said. Nightingale winced. She’d forgotten about the comms.</p><p>“In a minute, Queen Bee,” Flynn said. She approached the closest body, mounted like a doll with a wire stand wrapping around their waist. They were all like that, Nightingale realised as she moved slowly down the line. At the far end there were three boys, younger than any of the adults. Nightingale tried to keep her breathing steady as she realised their clothes looked like superhero costumes – tight-fitting, high-contrast colours, body armour; just like Nightingale’s own purple-and-blue outfit.</p><p>“What happened?” she murmured, reaching out to touch the middle boy’s hand without considering that maybe that was a creepy thing to do. Her hand brushed his cold, waxy skin before she realised. She snatched her hand back and stumbled backwards, bumping into a desk upon which sat what looked like an old-timey computer made up to look like something from Star Trek.</p><p>When she bumped the buttons, there was a low hum, and the blue light shut off, plunging Nightingale and Flynn into darkness.</p><p>“Uh, Jules?” Flynn said. Nightingale fumbled for her belt, pulling a flashlight from it and switching it on as Flynn did the same.</p><p>The boy’s face was inches from her own, and she screamed.</p><p>“Ahhh!” he screamed. The two other boys had also left their stands, and the three boys clung to each other as Nightingale tried to scramble further back, still screaming.</p><p>“Hey, shut up!” Flynn screamed. Nightingale clapped her hands over her mouth, and the boys looked wildly between the two girls.</p><p>“Who are you? What is this place? Where’s Doctor Immortal?” the boy Nightingale had touched said.</p><p>“Doctor Immortal?” Nightingale repeated. “Wasn’t he that guy from the nineties? Didn’t he die trying to inject himself with one of his immortality serums?”</p><p>“He did <em>what?</em>” one of the boys blurted, the blonde one. “When? How long have we been out?”</p><p>“Is it not the nineties anymore?” the third boy asked, looking bewildered.</p><p>“It’s 2020,” Nightingale said.</p><p>“No, but that’s – that’s impossible,” the first boy laughed nervously. “We’re not – we can’t be –“</p><p>“Nightingale, why didn’t any of the others wake up?” Flynn asked. Nightingale pushed past the boys to shine her light on the row of people. They were all slumped over, held up by the stands but no longer stiff.</p><p>“Dude,” one of the boys said. “This is that scientist we were looking for.” Nightingale looked over to see them trying to wake up a few of the adults. There was no response.</p><p>“No, no, no,” Julie whispered, frantically checking for a pulse on one of them. “No, please.” She remembered a song her mom had loved, from some garage rock band in her youth that never took off, and started to sing, trying to keep her voice from cracking.</p><p>“<em>Take off, last stop, count down till we blast open the top,</em>” she sang, mentally begging the person to wake up.</p><p>“Whoa, hey, is that –“ the boys’ leader said, staring at her. Julie ignored him, continuing to sing, pouring her energy into the stranger.</p><p>“Jules, it’s not working,” Flynn said, pulling her away. “You’re wasting your energy.”</p><p>Julie swayed on her feet when Flynn let her go, so she couldn’t really argue.</p><p>“<em>What</em> is going on over there?” The Queen snapped.</p><p>“We have three people in need of assistance,” Nightingale said shakily. “And a whole <em>lot</em> of dead.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Twenty-Five Years of Rust</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Topflight! Nightingale! Is it true the bodies found tonight include the body of famous physicist, Stanley Claremont, who disappeared in the mid-nineties?”</p><p>“No comment,” Nightingale said, towing Topflight through the crowd of reporters that had flocked to the site after the official school vehicles. She opened the door to the van that was set to take them back, then paused, looking back over the sea of people.</p><p>Where were the boys she and Flynn had woken up?</p><p>“Flynn, you still there?” she said into the comms, keeping her voice low in case a reporter overheard Flynn’s real name.</p><p>“I’m still on,” Flynn replied. “I was on my way to the van. Morrison needed to interrogate me about how I could possibly have been good enough at what they <em>teach</em> me to get in the room.”</p><p>“What happened to those guys?” Nightingale said.</p><p>“Are you getting in?” The Queen snapped at her from inside the van. “We can’t take off our masks with the door open.”</p><p>“Like it matters for you,” Nightingale snapped, which was a little ruder than she usually tried to be but it had been a long night. It worked, at least: The Queen pulled back, frowning slightly, and settled into her seat with a huff.</p><p>“Flynn?” Nightingale asked, not sure if Flynn had answered and she’d just missed it.</p><p>“Yeah, sorry, I’m looking,” Flynn said. “Not that Morrison or Pollack will be happy with me if they spot me. You know they want us far away from the clean-up when this kind of thing happens.”</p><p>“I know,” Nightingale said. “I just… I want to know what’s going to happen to them.”</p><p>“I know,” Flynn said softly. “Me, too.” There was a sharp little gasp. “Oh, there they are! That’s Principal Lessa! What is she doing here?”</p><p>“She never leaves the school,” Nightingale said.</p><p>“I know, that’s why I asked what she’s doing here,” Flynn said. Nightingale could <em>hear</em> her rolling her eyes. “The guys aren’t talking to her. They look pretty upset, I think – Oh, hi!”</p><p>Nightingale tensed at the shift in Flynn’s tone. She’d been found out.</p><p>“I was just wondering if the guys were gonna get in the van soon,” Flynn said. “They’re from school, right?”</p><p>There was a silence, and then Flynn said, “Great! Come on, guys, let’s go!”</p><p>“You got them?” Nightingale said with relief.</p><p>“I have no idea where they were gonna send these guys,” Flynn muttered grimly. “But it wasn’t home.”</p><p>Nightingale heard Flynn’s approach before she saw her. The crowd of reporters clamoured after her and the strange boys, desperate to know if she’d come up with a codename or who the boys were. Flynn appeared a minute later, head down and each hand gripping the wrist of a boy. The third one trailed behind, holding onto his blond-haired friend’s hand like a lost child. He almost stopped to talk to a reporter, only for his friend to give his arm a quick tug.</p><p>“Get in,” Flynn said when they reached the van. “Before the teachers figure out a way to change their minds without sounding super shady.”</p><p>“Flynn,” Nightingale scolded softly as she climbed in after the boys.</p><p>“You’re the girl who found us,” the first boy said, staring at Nightingale.</p><p>“These are the people who shut down our whole operation?” The Queen asked sourly.</p><p>“Come on, Carrie,” Flynn said, pulling her mask off. “They’re like us. Who knows how long they were shut up there?”</p><p>“We do,” the first boy said, taking off his mask as well and rubbing his eyes. “You said it was 2020?”</p><p>Nightingale nodded.</p><p>“Then it’s been twenty-five years,” he said.</p><p>“I <em>cannot</em> have been frozen for twenty-five years,” the blond boy said, also pulling off his mask. “I mean – twenty-five years?”</p><p>“Breathe, dude,” the third boy advised, mask off and turned into the subject of a one-person game of catch.</p><p>“Breathe? Everybody we know is twenty-five years older! Bobby is an adult! Who even knows what happened to our parents!”</p><p>“Oh my god, please keep it down, I already have a headache from Julie’s stupid powers,” Carrie said, arranging her hair so it sat the way she liked when unmasked. Nick sighed as he leaned against the window.</p><p>“Sorry about her,” he said to the new guys.</p><p>“You’re Julie?” the first of the strangers said, barely acknowledging Nick at all.</p><p>“Yeah,” Julie said.</p><p>“Wait, dude, wasn’t that –“ the other dark-haired one said, pausing in his game to lean over to his blond friend. His friend shushed him.</p><p>“Uh – I’m Luke. By the way,” he said, leaning forward and offering his hand to Julie. She shook it, amused. It was like shaking the hand of a toddler who was trying to be a Serious Businessperson. “And this is Alex, and Reggie.”</p><p>The boys in question waved.</p><p>“Well, you know I’m Julie and this is Flynn,” Julie said. “That’s Nick, and Carrie.”</p><p>Carrie huffed and crossed her arms, sinking a little lower in her seat.</p><p>“What were you guys doing before you ended up frozen?” Nick asked.</p><p>“We were on a mission for school,” Luke said, glancing at his friends.</p><p>“Just you?” Julie asked. As long as she’d been at school, they’d always been sent out in teams of four.</p><p>“They said Bobby couldn’t make it,” Luke said. “He was always super good at school, I think it was some special class or something he signed up for.”</p><p>“Yeah, he really wants to be a hero,” Reggie added. “Or uh. Wanted I guess. Dude, I bet he’s out there somewhere!”</p><p>Alex snorted.</p><p>“I bet he’s a substitute teacher at school,” he said bitterly.</p><p>“Nah, Bobby’s probably killing it out there. International stuff.” Luke frowned down at his knees. “So much for our rhythm guitarist.”</p><p>“Wait, what?” Julie asked. She exchanged a look with Flynn, who shrugged.</p><p>“Oh, yeah! We have a band! Yeah, once we’re out of school and we do all the mandatory stuff, we’re gonna be <em>huge</em>. I mean, we already were playing some pretty serious shows… before.” Luke shook his head, plastering a huge smile on his face. “I mean, come on, even you’ve heard of us. Sunset Curve? We wrote that song you were singing!”</p><p>For a wild moment, Julie thought of her mom’s song, the one she’d used to lure away that first guard. But no, he meant the one from her mom’s favourite old cd.</p><p>“I wouldn’t say I’ve heard of you,” she said awkwardly. “But we did used to play that cd all the time. It was my mom’s.”</p><p>“Oh, you guys have our demo?” Reggie said excitedly. “Dude, I bet her mom’s still got the t-shirt, too.”</p><p>“Yeah, if it didn’t fall apart in the wash,” Alex said, wrinkling his nose.</p><p>“I hate all of you,” Carrie murmured, sinking even lower in her seat.</p><p>“What is your problem, Carrie? They’ve been out for twenty-five years!” Flynn snapped.</p><p>“Yeah, and <em>this</em> is what they choose to talk about? Your stupid music dream was never going to be real, nobody’s ever is!”</p><p>“Guys, come on, we’re almost at school,” Nick said. “Can we just play nice until then?”</p><p>“Stay out of this, Nick!” Carrie and Flynn snapped in terrifying unison. Nick leaned away so fast he smacked his head on the window. Julie couldn’t blame him.</p><p>“I promise we’re not all this messy,” Julie murmured. Reggie and Luke laughed, and Alex managed a weak smile.</p><p>When they got to school, their parents were waiting for them. Usually after a mission they’d be parked just inside the front gate, and the students would have to go to them, but Julie guessed the unusual circumstances were the reason why their parents were all standing inside the main building’s entrance, along with Principal Lessa and a few of the other teachers who’d been at clean-up earlier.</p><p>“Dad,” Julie said, itching to reach out for a hug but a little embarrassed to do so in front of the teachers. He smiled at her, holding out his index finger, and she wrapped hers around it gratefully.</p><p>“We’ve been discussing what to do with you three –“ Principal Lessa announced, staring coldly at Luke, Alex, and Reggie.</p><p>“And I offered to let you stay with us for a while,” Julie’s dad cut in smoothly. Julie stared up at him in alarm.</p><p>“We’re doing what?” she hissed.</p><p>“Wait, what about – aren’t our parents around still?” Reggie asked. Luke bounced on his toes, looking distraught.</p><p>“Given the circumstances surrounding your disappearance are still… mostly unknown,” the principal said stiffly. “We’ve decided it’s best for the time being to keep the details under wraps. As far as anyone outside this team knows, you’re transfers from another school.”</p><p>“You’re not making them stay here?” Carrie asked. She was standing alone, like always, arms crossed as she eyed everyone else’s parents resentfully.</p><p>“Mr Molina presented an alternative,” Principal Lessa said through a smile that Julie was almost sure was fake. She had a feeling the presentation of the alternative had been her dad refusing to shut up until the school said yes.</p><p>“Of course he did,” Carrie muttered.</p><p>“I’m sure the offer’s still open to you, if you ever pull your head out of your –“</p><p>“Flynn!” Flynn’s mom cut in sharply. Flynn rolled her eyes, but kept quiet.</p><p>“But we can go see our parents, right? I mean, if they think we’re dead –“ Luke stepped forward.</p><p>“No contact until we’re sure it’s safe,” Principal Lessa said. Her face softened. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>Luke frowned, wrinkling his nose like he’d smelled something bad. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but Alex laid a hand on his shoulder.</p><p>“Come on,” he said. “At least we don’t have to stay in the dorms.”</p><p>“Yeah, I bet the food’s a lot better with Mr Molina,” Reggie said. “Dude, we haven’t eaten in twenty-five years!”</p><p>“Can people just stop saying that number?” Alex squeaked. It was a fair question given the circumstances, but Julie still had to try hard not to laugh.</p><p>“Well, if that’s everything,” Julie’s dad said, clapping his hands. “I think we can all go, right?”</p><p>Principal Lessa glared at him.</p><p>“None of you is to mention this. If ever a situation fell under the NDAs you all signed, this would be it. Am I clear?”</p><p>Everyone murmured their agreement, and Principal Lessa nodded.</p><p>“All right,” she said. “You’re all dismissed.”</p><p>“Come on, <em>mija</em>,” Julie’s dad said. “Carlos was waiting up for you when I left, let’s see if your <em>tía </em>managed to get him to bed.”</p><p>“Carlos is <em>not </em>gonna want to keep this quiet,” Julie said.</p><p>With a long sigh, her dad said, “No, probably not.”</p><p>“Who’s Carlos?” Reggie asked from just behind Julie’s shoulder. Julie jumped, shoving him back a step.</p><p>“Don’t do that!” she exclaimed.</p><p>“Sorry,” Reggie said. As Julie pushed open the school doors, one of them made a loud sound, and fell off the top hinge. Julie and the others scrambled away hastily.</p><p>After a few seconds of silence spent staring at the door dangling in a way doors should not dangle, Alex coughed.</p><p>“Let’s just go,” he said.</p><p>“How did that even happen?” Julie’s dad murmured, glancing back at the door. “You kids are ok, right?”</p><p>“Fine,” Julie said. “Come on, Dad, you know weird accidents happen all the time around here.”</p><p>“Oh, I know,” he said, sounding far less accustomed to it than Julie was. Then again, he’d never attended one of these schools himself, so he hadn’t exactly spent as much time here.</p><p>The boys were mostly silent on the car ride home, looking both exhausted and terrified. Julie couldn’t blame them. Bad enough they were so far removed from their time, but to be told they couldn’t even see their parents?</p><p>Well. Julie sort of knew how that felt. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to know they were still there, but out of reach.</p><p>“Wait,” Luke said as they pulled into the driveway. “Wait, boys!” He was fumbling with the seatbelt and clambering out of the car before her dad put it into park.</p><p>“Luke!” Julie exclaimed, jumping out after him.</p><p>“Oh, wow,” Reggie said from behind her. Luke darted to the studio, reaching up to the doors like he didn’t quite dare to touch it.</p><p>“This is our studio! We used to practice in this garage!” he exclaimed, whirling around to face Julie.</p><p>“It’s got a new paint job,” Alex murmured.</p><p>“You want to go in?” Julie’s dad offered.</p><p>“Ehhh,” Alex said.</p><p>“Yeah!” Luke exclaimed.</p><p>“Ok,” Alex said. Reggie was already beside Luke, opening the doors.</p><p>“Dude,” Luke said, grinning wildly as he stepped inside and looked around. The other boys followed. Julie halted in the doorway. “It’s still a studio. Julie, do you play?”</p><p>“My mom,” she said, folding her arms.</p><p>“No way,” Luke said, picking up the music on the piano. The urge to snatch it from him was strong, but he glanced up at her and put it down before she could do much more than get angry.</p><p>“Sorry,” he said. “She’s an amazing songwriter, it looks like.”</p><p>“She was,” Julie said.</p><p>His face fell. He took a few steps toward her, but Alex laid a hand on his arm and shook his head. Pouting slightly, Luke stayed where he was.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m, uh… I’m really sorry.”</p><p>“Yeah, we didn’t know,” Reggie said. “If you don’t want us in here –“</p><p>“It’s ok,” Julie said. “She’d probably be happy somebody’s using it.”</p><p>“Hey, but you’re a really good singer,” Luke said. “You never learned to play?”</p><p>Julie looked down, rather than admit the truth.</p><p>“Are you guilty? Why are you guilty? It’s ok,” Luke said. Julie stared at him, but before she could ask where <em>that</em> came from, Alex called out to them.</p><p>“I think this stuff up here is ours!”</p><p>“Those old instruments?” Julie blurted. “And the bags of gross dude clothes?”</p><p>“Hey,” Reggie said. “My other favourite flannel is in there.”</p><p>“I think it’s your only favourite flannel at this point,” Luke said, picking at his costume for emphasis.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess nobody kept it, huh?” Reggie said with a frown.</p><p>“Well, if you want me to get those washed so you have something to wear, that’s convenient,” Julie’s dad said. He wrapped an arm around Julie’s shoulders.</p><p>“How are you doing?” he murmured to her. Julie looked at the guys, investigating the things left in the loft, and thought about the fact that what they were searching for here was even older than what she couldn’t find.</p><p>“I’m ok,” she said. “I think maybe I’ll help them sort through this stuff.”</p><p>Her dad squeezed her shoulder.</p><p>“I’m proud of you, <em>mija</em>,” he said.</p><p>“Dude, our instruments are here,” Luke exclaimed, poking his head over the railing. “Is it ok if we play a little? We’ve got, like, twenty-five years of rust to dust off.”</p><p>“It’s almost midnight,” Julie’s dad said. “But in the morning.”</p><p>“There’s no school?” Alex asked. Julie would have questioned his assumption that they were going right back to school, but she probably would have assumed the same thing. School was like that.</p><p>“It’s Friday,” Julie said.</p><p>“Oh,” Alex said, leaning on the railing as Luke went back to sorting through things. “We… went out on a Tuesday. You’d think, after twenty-five years, the days wouldn’t bother me so much.”</p><p>“I mean, a couple days is way easier to understand than a bunch of years,” Julie said. “I get it.”</p><p>He smiled at her. It didn’t reach his eyes, but she couldn’t blame him. A second later, Luke touched his arm, and Alex’s smile brightened.</p><p>“Dude, I’m fine,” he said to Luke, and to Julie’s surprise he sounded like it.</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke said, patting him on the back before he turned around to head back down. “Now you are.”</p><p>Alex rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Come on,” Julie’s dad said, hoisting two of the bags the boys had thrown down. Julie grabbed the third. “We’ll show you where you’re staying.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun fact: every name I needed that I didn't pull from a canon person (principal Lessa being the big one) is a name borrowed from a famous creator of superhero comics. (I smushed together first and last names from different people, to be clear.) None of these are necessarily endorsements of these people's runs on comics because I am far too full of opinions to ever, like. Recommend a comic. (I will usually say something like "I love it but also here's why it's terrible" because comics are like that.)<br/>Also, I am not going to commit to a specific update schedule for this one since I'm about to try and do two fics at once, but I don't think I'll leave anybody in the lurch too long because I am far too invested in this. So that is my announcement on the subject.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Own Your Awesomeness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alex barely slept. Everything about Julie’s house felt wrong, familiar from years of band practice and yet rearranged to the point where he recognised nothing. He lay still on the bed, with Reggie clinging to him and Luke sprawled over both of them – Julie’s dad, Ray, had provided them with sleeping bags but none of them were quite ready to let go of each other – trying to breathe slowly so he wouldn’t wake his friends.</p><p>He’d missed out on a whole life. They all had. Twenty-five years gone, and for what? They hadn’t found the scientist, not until he was dead and they were out of time in a terrifyingly literal way. They hadn’t made it big with the band, and clearly Bobby hadn’t gone on to do any music since Julie hadn’t known his name. They didn’t even have their parents, and that was… a particularly strange thing to feel sad about.</p><p>A clean slate should have been nice. Alex could almost imagine telling this guy Ray he was gay, and having it work out – the way he’d just let them come home with him, no questions, gave Alex a little more hope than he was comfortable with. Either way, he didn’t have to go home to parents who wanted things from him he couldn’t give. He didn’t have to live with expectations of straightness, or a useful power, or leaving behind music.</p><p>But at least he’d known what people expected of him.</p><p>“Alex?” Reggie murmured, voice faint from sleep. He lifted his head and met Alex’s gaze, blinking sleep crust from his eyes.</p><p>“Sorry,” Alex said. “Sorry. I woke you up.”</p><p>“Man, are you kidding? I’m surprised I could sleep,” Reggie said. Luke murmured something in his sleep, and Alex and Reggie froze. No point in them all waking up.</p><p>When Luke didn’t stir, Alex tried to smile at Reggie.</p><p>“I’m just trying to think,” he said. “I didn’t see this coming.”</p><p>“Who would?” Reggie said sardonically. Alex glared at him, and Reggie grinned.</p><p>“I know what you meant,” he said. “And you kind of did. Julie, remember?”</p><p>Alex shook his head.</p><p>“I just thought… It meant we were gonna make it with our music,” he said. “I mean, all I saw was Luke talking about somebody named Julie who wrote us a song. That’s not… it didn’t exactly scream ‘we’re gonna skip twenty-five years into the future’.”</p><p>“What would?” Reggie asked. Alex had to concede that point.</p><p>“I just… why see the future if I’m not going to see anything important?” Alex said. “I try and <em>try</em> to change the bad things, and every time…”</p><p>“Maybe you’re not supposed to change it,” Reggie offered.</p><p>“What else am I supposed to do?” Alex snapped.</p><p>“Alex?” Luke murmured.</p><p>Alex and Reggie stiffened, exchanging guilty glances. There was no saving it now; even if they made Luke think he’d dreamt Alex’s voice, he was awake enough to sense Alex’s distress, and there would be no sleep for any of them until Luke was satisfied.</p><p>“Hey, what’s wrong?” Luke asked.</p><p>“Nothing,” Alex said. That was a terrible way to lie to an empath, so he added, “I’m just… trying to plan.”</p><p>“Did you see something?” Luke asked.</p><p>“No,” Alex said. “That’s… kind of the problem.”</p><p>Luke propped himself up on his hands, staring down at Alex.</p><p>“You’re panicking,” he said. “Dude, why didn’t you wake me? We could both be asleep right now.”</p><p>“Luke, it’s fine…” Alex said.</p><p>“Bro,” Luke said, touching Alex’s elbow. “It’s ok. We’ve been doing this for years, you don’t have to stop asking for help just because we’re in a new decade.”</p><p>The relief was immediate, like Luke had untangled a knot of thick rope in Alex’s chest. Alex relaxed against his pillow.</p><p>“We’re gonna have to deal with this sometime,” he said as Luke took his hand away. The fear hadn’t quite returned – usually it took a few minutes – but Luke couldn’t turn Alex’s entire <em>brain</em> off, and neither of them would want that anyway.</p><p>“Yeah, but could it be in the morning?” Reggie suggested. “I was having a <em>really</em> great dream about pizza.”</p><p>Alex laughed, then grunted as Luke flopped back down on top of them.</p><p>“Good night,” Luke muttered. Eyes closed, he flapped his hand around until he found Reggie’s face and patted his cheek a few times. He left it there and hummed in satisfaction.</p><p>“Night,” Reggie squeaked, blushing so furiously Alex could see it even in the weak moonlight. Alex rolled his eyes fondly, and then took advantage of Luke’s gift to finally drift to sleep.</p><p> </p><p>Carlos woke up to a crashing noise. He ran down the stairs to find his dad staring out the door, bewildered.</p><p>“What happened?” he asked.</p><p>“It looks like a tree fell,” he said. “Did you hear any wind last night?”</p><p>Carlos shook his head, less interested now that he knew it was just a tree.</p><p>“Where’s Julie? How’d last night go?” he asked as he followed his dad into the dining room. He paused, noticing there were way more place settings than the usual four.</p><p>“Well, Carlos, it didn’t go as planned,” his dad said.</p><p>“Is Julie –“</p><p>“She’s fine! She’s probably still asleep,” his dad said quickly. “But Julie’s team… found something. Another superhero team.”</p><p>“Wait, what do you mean they found them?” Carlos asked.</p><p>“Well, I don’t know the details, but they were, uh… frozen somehow. It’s been twenty-five years. And since that means they had no place to stay…” His dad spread his hands.</p><p>“So now there are four superheroes in our house,” Carlos said. “Awesome! Can I meet them? What are their names?”</p><p>“I’m sure they’ll be down any minute,” Carlos’s dad said. “I’m just going to get breakfast together for everybody, all right?”</p><p>“Ok,” Carlos said. His eyes drifted to the stairs, but as soon as he thought about charging back up to find the mysterious new superheroes, somebody came down.</p><p>“Uh… hi,” the boy said. He was around Julie’s age, dressed in an oversized pair of pajamas that Carlos was pretty sure were salvaged from the depths of his dad’s wardrobe. He tripped over the hem of the pants and nearly fell down the stairs. As it was, he skidded a few steps down before he managed to stop himself by clinging to the railing.</p><p>“Hi,” Carlos said. <em>This</em> was the super cool superhero Julie brought home?</p><p>She had low standards.</p><p>“Are you… Julie’s brother or something?”</p><p>“I’m Carlos,” he said cheerfully. “Who are you?”</p><p>“I’m Reggie,” the boy said, shoving the pajama sleeve up his arm before waving.</p><p>“Oh, you’re awake!” Carlos’s dad said. “How about the others? Luke, right? And Alex?”</p><p>“Yeah, they’re coming. Is Julie up yet?”</p><p>“Ooh, why do you care about <em>Julie?</em>” Carlos said, little brother instincts activated by the mere mention of his sister.</p><p>“I mean, I only know like three people in 2020,” Reggie pointed out cheerfully. That seemed like a weird thing to be cheerful about, but then again it was probably pretty cool to time travel.</p><p>Julie came down the stairs next, and she stopped when she saw Reggie.</p><p>“Hey, Julie!” he said, waving.</p><p>“Right. Hi…”</p><p>“Reggie,” he said helpfully.</p><p>“Sorry, Reggie,” Julie said with a nod and a smile. “I… kind of thought I’d dreamed that.”</p><p>“Oh, hey, me too!” Reggie said. Julie laughed softly.</p><p>Carlos managed to hold back his questions until breakfast was ready and all three of the boys were sitting at the table with his family.</p><p>“So what are your powers?” he asked.</p><p>“Carlos,” his dad said.</p><p>“What? They’re superheroes! They know we know because of Julie! If I had superpowers I’d tell everybody about it.”</p><p>“No, you wouldn’t, because that would be dangerous,” his dad said.</p><p>“Yeah, and illegal,” Julie muttered.</p><p>“But it’s fine if <em>I</em> ask <em>them</em>,” Carlos reminded his killjoy relatives. “So what are they?”</p><p>“Luke’s an empath,” Reggie volunteered. “You know, he feels what you’re feeling, and he can change it, too!”</p><p>“Whoa,” Carlos said.</p><p>“Yeah, and Alex…” Reggie glanced over at Alex, who shrugged with a small smile on his face. “Alex can see the future.”</p><p>“Wait, seriously?” Julie blurted. Carlos gaped at him in awe.</p><p>“Yeah, it’s… really not that special,” he said. “I mean, I don’t… get to pick what I see. And I haven’t been able to really do anything with it. I just get little things.”</p><p>“Dude,” Reggie said. “Own your awesomeness? For once?”</p><p>“I do know when we’re finally getting flying cars,” Alex admitted with a grin.</p><p>“Wait, what? When?” Carlos demanded.</p><p>“Dude, he hasn’t even told <em>us</em> that,” Luke said.</p><p>“Yeah, little man, good luck,” Reggie added.</p><p>“So what’s your power?” Carlos asked. The guys exchanged glances.</p><p>“You don’t have to tell us,” Julie offered when the silence stretched on.</p><p>“We don’t know,” Luke blurted.</p><p>“How do you not know?” Julie asked.</p><p>“You know those… power tests they have us take? When your parents think you might be powered?” Alex asked. Carlos and Julie nodded. “Reggie kind of… broke the scale.”</p><p>“No way,” Julie said, sitting back in her chair with a look of awe.</p><p>“Cool!” Carlos whispered.</p><p>“Yeah, except we have no idea what my power is or how to use it,” Reggie said. “I only got tested because Alex and Luke did, and I wouldn’t leave my parents alone.”</p><p>“Yeah, but they put him in all the support classes so he knows, like, everything,” Luke cut in quickly. “Reggie can pick <em>any</em> lock.”</p><p>Reggie ducked his head.</p><p>“My friend Flynn is the same,” Julie said. “She doesn’t… she doesn’t use her power? So now she can do all this cool stuff nobody else on our team gets to practice much.”</p><p>“Hey, she’s that girl that helped us find the van, right?” Reggie said. “She seemed cool.”</p><p>“She’s <em>amazing,</em>” Julie said fervently.</p><p>“Way cooler than Julie,” Carlos added, fully expecting the elbow to the side that he earned a second later.</p><p>“Hey, could we… go play?” Luke asked. With a nervous grin, he added, “It’s been twenty-five years since we touched our instruments, right?”</p><p>“Please stop saying that,” Alex murmured. Luke didn’t seem to notice, because he was too busy staring at Julie. Carlos looked at her, too, but she didn’t have anything on her face.</p><p>“I’ll take you to the studio,” Julie said. Carlos dropped his fork in surprise. Julie hadn’t gone into their mom’s studio since she died. “We’ve been meaning to sort through all that stuff for years.”</p><p>“Cool,” Luke said, though he still looked puzzled by something. As Carlos’s dad stood up to collect the dirty plates, he hugged Julie around the shoulders.</p><p>“Proud of you, <em>mija</em>,” he muttered just loud enough for Julie and Carlos to hear.</p><p>“Well,” Carlos said, stretching. “I’m gonna go play a videogame.”</p><p>“No, you’re going to go work on your homework, and once that first essay draft is done, <em>then</em> you can have an hour,” his dad said, which was especially unfair since Carlos knew for a fact he was repeating what <em>Tía</em> Victoria had said last weekend almost word-for-word.</p><p>“But what about –“</p><p>“Go,” his dad said fondly. Carlos groaned.</p><p>“Julie, if you find anything cool it’s mine!” he called out as he took the stairs two at a time.</p><p>“Yeah, right,” Julie said.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am having a great deal of fun bringing canon moments into this in unusual ways. That is all.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A Little Questionable</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I can’t believe they kept all our stuff,” Alex said as he, Luke, Reggie, and Julie brought down the instruments that had sat hidden away for so long.</p><p>“My mom was like that,” Julie said, tracing a finger around the crash cymbal she’d just set up. “I don’t know why the people who owned the house before kept them, but she would take one look at something and know it was important to somebody.”</p><p>“Was she powered?” Luke asked gently.</p><p>Julie nodded.</p><p>“Like me,” she said. “Her voice. Her music. I don’t know, she always said… everything has a song if you know how to listen. And she was always searching for the happiest songs.”</p><p>“So she kept stuff because they were… happy songs?” Alex said.</p><p>Julie shrugged. She’d never really known what her mom meant, but that was her best guess.</p><p>“Hey, dude, that means your drums like you,” Luke said.</p><p>“That’s nice, that they’ve forgiven you for hitting them,” Reggie said as he clambered down from the loft with his bass guitar. Julie honestly wasn’t sure how to respond to that.</p><p>“Ok, well,” she said. “I guess if that’s it, I’ll leave you to it.”</p><p>“Whoa, hey, you could stick around,” Luke offered, bounding towards her. Julie took a step back, just out of his reach. She wasn’t sure she trusted him with her feelings just yet.</p><p>“It’s ok, you guys probably want some time alone, right?” she said.</p><p>“We like performing,” Reggie said. “And it doesn’t <em>feel</em> like we’re out of practice.”</p><p>Alex shrugged.</p><p>“Yeah, I mean… if you really don’t want to,” Luke said. “You’re scared.”</p><p>“I am not <em>scared</em>,” Julie scoffed. She was a superhero!</p><p>“Hey, all I’m saying is you could stick around,” Luke said, finally stepping back. He swung his guitar around to his front and picked out a few notes. “We could give you a live performance of that demo cd.”</p><p>“I could give myself that, if I wanted,” Julie muttered, but she sat on the couch, watching them. She had to admit, she was curious.</p><p>They started with a few songs she recognised, the ones off her mom’s cd, and then went through a few she’d never heard.</p><p>When they finished up, she asked, “So what exactly was that one about?”</p><p>“Oh, <em>Crooked Teeth?</em> It’s about Reggie,” Luke said.</p><p>“Wait, what?” Reggie said. Alex laughed as Luke cringed.</p><p>“Have we hit intermission?” Julie’s dad was at the door, smiling sadly at them. Julie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, remembering for the first time since the boys started playing where she was, and why she hadn’t come here in so long.</p><p>“Is something wrong?” Alex asked immediately.</p><p>“No, I just thought you’d want to go shopping,” Julie’s dad said. “Unless you want to live life with only two outfits and your costumes.”</p><p>The guys exchanged glances, and then shrugs.</p><p>“You want to come, Julie?” her dad said. “Carlos still has homework, so I asked <em>Tía</em> Victoria to come watch him.”</p><p>Julie made the mistake of glancing at the boys, who were all looking at her with varying levels of puppy dog eyes.</p><p>“Fine,” she said. “I will play twenty-first century tour guide.”</p><p>“Oh, dude, we’re in a different <em>century</em>!” Reggie exclaimed. Alex groaned.</p><p>The mall was an experience from the moment they stepped inside. The boys stared around like they were expecting something to jump out at them.</p><p>“Are you guys ok?” Julie asked.</p><p>“Where is everybody?” Alex asked. “It’s Saturday, right?”</p><p>Julie looked around. The mall was pretty crowded, for this end of it.</p><p>“Yeah,” she said slowly. Her dad laughed.</p><p>“And what’s with all the stores? Why are they all closed?” Luke asked, stopping to stare at a space that was up for lease.</p><p>“Because they are?” Julie asked. “They just haven’t replaced the store that went out of business.”</p><p>“What?” Alex asked.</p><p>“Malls aren’t such a big thing anymore,” Julie’s dad said. “Come on. Let’s figure out what you need.”</p><p>“What’s that?” Reggie asked, turning around as they walked to stare at a woman who was walking the other way, scrolling through her phone.</p><p>“That is a cell phone,” Julie’s dad said. Reggie fell backwards, landing hard on his bottom. Julie covered her face as people turned to stare.</p><p>“You ok?” Alex asked, trying not to laugh.</p><p>“Where’s the antenna?” Reggie asked plaintively as Luke helped him up. “Where were the <em>buttons</em>?”</p><p>“They’re… probably gonna need at least <em>a </em>phone,” Julie said to her dad. “Especially if they’re supposed to pretend they’re actually from 2020.”</p><p>Her dad sighed.</p><p>“I wonder if I can get the school to fund their own cover story,” he muttered.</p><p>“You don’t have to –“ Reggie said quickly.</p><p>“No, it’s fine, boys,” Julie’s dad said. “Something tells me you boys don’t mind if you get an older model?”</p><p>“Something you can actually call people on?” Reggie suggested. Julie laughed.</p><p>“I’ll show you how to work them,” she said.</p><p>“You may have to show them more than that,” her dad said. “You use computers at school, don’t you?”</p><p>“School-issued,” Julie said, rolling her eyes. Intellectually, she knew that the school had better laptops than anything a regular person could get for leisure. But that didn’t change the fact that she knew the school stuff was clunkier and older than the things adult superheroes were using for their work.</p><p>“We know how to work computers,” Luke said. “We took the class and everything.”</p><p>Julie looked at him.</p><p>“We… don’t know how to use them, do we?” he asked.</p><p>“A lot has changed,” Julie said.</p><p>“I’d be surprised if anything hadn’t,” Alex muttered.</p><p>Clothes hadn’t changed too much, though, or at least the boys all found things that matched their personal aesthetics.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re lucky the nineties are coming back into fashion,” Julie’s dad said when Reggie commented on it, happily tugging on a new leather jacket as they left the store.</p><p>“Great, we’re retro,” Alex muttered.</p><p>The boys tried to be involved in the phone shopping process, but they only seemed to grow more bewildered by the things the sales rep was asking. When Alex started to hyperventilate, Julie led them out into the mall once more, to a bench by a fountain.</p><p>“Come on, bro, breathe,” Luke murmured, brushing Alex’s hand. Alex’s chest calmed, and he ducked his head.</p><p>Julie swallowed and stepped further away, hoping they’d all think it was to give them privacy. Conveniently, her phone rang.</p><p>“Jules!” Flynn said as soon as Julie picked up. “I have been dying to call you all day, I think I drank like ten sodas trying to keep myself from calling you too early. I figured you’d need to settle the guys in. Is everything ok? Do they get along with Carlos? If they don’t like Carlos, I’ll help you beat them up.”</p><p>“Flynn!” Julie cut in quickly, all too familiar with Flynn’s soda-brain. “Everything’s fine. They seemed to like Carlos, you <em>know</em> he was obsessed with them.”</p><p>“That does sound like him,” Flynn agreed. “So spill. What are they <em>like</em>?”</p><p>Julie glanced over at the bench. Luke had wrapped his arms around Alex and Reggie’s shoulders, using the hand dangling off Reggie’s shoulder to gesture broadly at the mall before them.</p><p>“I’m not sure,” she said. “Confused. They have <em>no</em> idea what they’re doing. But normal.”</p><p>Reggie went to stand up, only to accidentally shove Luke backwards into the fountain.</p><p>“Reggie’s a little questionable,” Julie admitted. She winced as he tried to help Luke up, only to send water sloshing over the sides of the fountain. A few seconds later, the water stopped pouring out of the top. The boys exchanged glances and hurried to Julie’s side, Luke and Reggie sloshing with every step.</p><p>“We should go,” Alex said.</p><p>“What? Why?” Julie asked.</p><p>“Because Reggie accidentally blocked the fountain with coins, and the last time that happened a pipe broke,” Luke said.</p><p>“Wait, what? How does that even happen? And what makes you think it would happen more than once?” Julie hurried to catch up with them as they all but sprinted away.</p><p>“It’s kind of the third time that’s happened?” Reggie said. “The first time it was the actual fountain, not a pipe, though.”</p><p>“Again, <em>how?</em>” Julie asked. “And, hang on.” She stopped following them, bringing her phone back to her ear.</p><p>“I have to go,” Julie said. “Apparently Reggie’s superpower is breaking fountains.”</p><p>“Do you think that could be it?” Reggie asked, like he was genuinely considering it. Julie raised her eyebrows in disbelief and returned to her phone call.</p><p>“I’ll text you later, Flynn?” she said.</p><p>“Yeah, sure, go… fix a fountain?” Flynn said, sounding even more bewildered than Julie felt. When she’d hung up, she texted her dad.</p><p>
  <em>Boys fell in the fountain. We’re gonna find a bathroom and dry them off.</em>
</p><p>She didn’t bother getting into the potential pipe blockage. She still wasn’t sure how that made sense, or if it would even happen. No point worrying him.</p><p>Bags of clothes in hand, Julie shepherded the boys to the nearest bathroom, using the time it took them to change to find a bag she could use for their wet things from a nearby store. Alex stuck with her, being largely untouched by the fountain water.</p><p>“So what’s Luke’s deal?” Julie asked him, unable to resist. “I mean… He’s always touching you guys, and I can see him bringing you down from panic attacks sometimes. How much of that is his power?”</p><p>“He likes hugs,” Alex said. He shook his head. “It’s not like that. Believe me, I am <em>fine</em> with him stopping my panic attacks before they start.”</p><p>That made sense.</p><p>“He won’t do it to you if you tell him not to,” Alex said. “He won’t even touch you, if that’s what you want. He’s just a really touchy person.”</p><p>And <em>that</em> Julie could relate to. She and Flynn were always in each other’s space.</p><p>“Sorry,” she said. Alex shook his head.</p><p>“I get it,” he said. “Luke… wants to help. A <em>lot</em>.”</p><p>“Hey! We are <em>ready!</em>” Reggie proclaimed, spinning around and ending with a cocked hip and a wink. Julie laughed at his antics. “Like what you see?”</p><p>“Well, I’m ace, so you’ll have to do a lot better than that,” Julie said, leading them away as soon as Luke joined them.</p><p>“Ace? Like…” Alex trailed off. Julie bit her lip. She didn’t know much about the nineties, but she knew how things were now. She’d forgotten herself, talking to the guys like they were Flynn or her family.</p><p>“Asexual,” she said slowly. “I’m not attracted to anybody.” She shrugged nervously. If they were cool, they’d know she was cool. If they were any sort of -phobic… well, they’d have run across that problem eventually.</p><p>“Just another flavour of queerness,” she said with an awkward smile.</p><p>“Does your dad know?” Alex asked softly, surprising her.</p><p>“Yeah,” she said after a moment. “Yeah, I’m out to him and Carlos and Flynn. I would be out to Nick and Carrie, but Nick’s parents never let him hang out after school and Carrie is… Carrie.”</p><p>Alex laughed, shoving his hands in his pockets.</p><p>“So… are they cool with gay people?” he asked hesitantly.</p><p>“Well, they’re cool with the fact that <em>I </em>like everybody who’s worth the romantic attraction,” Julie said, nudging him with her elbow. “I feel like it’d be weird to be good with bi people but not gay ones.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Alex said. “Probably would be.” He grinned down at the floor. Julie exchanged a smile with Luke, who looked thrilled.</p><p>Maybe her new houseguests would be better friends than she’d thought.</p><p> </p><p>Luke, Reggie, and Alex managed to convince Julie to come back to the studio again when they got back. Her reluctance wasn’t as strong as it had been that morning, though it was still obviously tugging at her the way it hadn’t when Luke and the boys had been playing for her. He resolved that, if she wouldn’t let him touch her, he would just have to keep playing for her, picking away at that knot inside her until neither of them could feel it.</p><p>“So what kind of music do people play now?” Luke asked after a couple songs, noticing that the songs hadn’t wiped Julie’s worries away as strongly as that morning. She kept glancing at the piano. He was almost sure she played.</p><p>Julie shrugged.</p><p>“I mean, lots of stuff,” she said. “I can show you some of my favourite artists…” She pulled out her phone.</p><p>“What style did your mom play?” Luke asked. That music from the day before was still on the piano, and he was dying to know what it was meant to sound like. What it might sound like in Julie’s voice.</p><p>“Um. Kind of… pop/rock,” Julie said, which was about as far from an answer as she could get while answering, and Luke was pretty sure they both knew it.</p><p>“Luke, come on, leave it,” Reggie said quietly.</p><p>“Ok,” Luke said. Reggie and Alex were better at the talking parts of emotions. “Just… Julie, I think somebody should play that song. Nobody ever wrote a song they didn’t want the world to hear.”</p><p>“Dude!” Alex hissed. Julie looked at him sharply.</p><p>Julie was like a pot of boiling water, each emotion a bubble that popped before Luke could get a real feel for it.</p><p>He didn’t like that. Julie was the kind of person who deserved to be happy.</p><p>“Julie,” he said insistently.</p><p>“Luke, come on,” Alex said. “We should ask Ray how to work those phones.” He and Reggie all but dragged Luke to the door before Julie spoke.</p><p>“Ok,” she said.</p><p>“Seriously?” Reggie said, though he sounded as eager as Luke felt.</p><p>Julie took a breath.</p><p>“If it means that much to you,” she said, which wasn’t Luke’s point at all, but at least it got her to <em>do</em> it.</p><p>“No, hey, don’t do it for us,” Alex said. “We’re sorry. We’ll just… go.”</p><p>He elbowed Luke.</p><p>“I’m right!” Luke hissed. Alex glared at him.</p><p>“I am sorry,” Luke said. “It’s not about me. Sorry if you thought it was, or if I made it like it was.”</p><p>Julie smiled weakly at him. The bubble were slowing, but still hard for him to read.</p><p>“I think I might stay out here for a minute,” she said.</p><p>“Yeah, take your time,” Reggie said softly.</p><p>As they left, the sound of the piano drifted from the studio. Luke almost turned back, but Alex grabbed his arm.</p><p>“You did what you wanted,” he said. “Let her do it.”</p><p>Luke glanced at Reggie, who shrugged apologetically.</p><p>“We can give her a hug when she’s done,” Reggie said. “She probably needs one.”</p><p>“Yeah, I don’t think a hug from an empath and a walking disaster is the feel-good moment you’re looking for,” Alex said.</p><p>“Where are you in that?” Luke said, offended.</p><p>“Hiding,” Alex said. “I didn’t know Julie’s <em>mom</em>.”</p><p>They were met on the porch by Carlos and Ray, whose faces were turned toward the studio like flowers to the sun.</p><p>“She’s singing,” Ray murmured. “For <em>fun.</em>”</p><p>He looked at the boys, and his eyes were full of tears. He nodded at them. Luke felt sympathetic tears start up.</p><p>“<em>So raise that spirit, spirit… I wanna hear it, hear it…” </em>Julie sang, voice rising like she was in a concert hall and not closed up in a building a good distance away. Luke was happy to stand with his friends and the Molinas, entranced by her song.</p><p>“Thank you,” Ray said softly.</p><p>“<em>No need to fear it you’re not alone. You’re gonna find your way."</em></p><p>"Julie did all the work,” Luke said.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>No consistent updates, I say, updating four days in a row. I am incorrigible.<br/>Also I swear there's a reason Reggie is having so many pratfalls. It's plot. I promise.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Human Wrecking Ball</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a long weekend, trying to acclimate the boys to the present day. They seemed excited about some things – Julie had taken it upon herself to be their modern-day queer mentor after that little conversation at the mall, and had discovered that apparently she had her own little squad of bi people now thanks to Reggie and Luke – but apprehensive about others, especially Alex. They’d all picked up computers impressively fast, given how confused they’d been and how much Julie’s dad struggled in spite of having been around for all the changes, but they only answered calls or text messages once in a while. Julie set up email inboxes for them, talked them down from all having variations on “Sunset Curve” in their email addresses, and kept her fingers crossed that they would keep up with at least one method of communication.</p><p>Still, school came again as it always did, but this time she was heading in with three other people.</p><p>“Look, just remember what Principal Lessa said,” Julie told them. “You’re transfer students.”</p><p>“And if somebody mentions something we don’t know about but should?” Alex asked. “Like, that stuff you were doing on your phone yesterday. With the videos?”</p><p>“That is called TikTok, you can just say you don’t have one,” Julie said, trying to calm him down. “It’s unusual, but most people just accept that answer. It’s no big deal. Also, that is almost never the first thing people ask about.”</p><p>“And anything else, that we <em>can’t</em> explain like that?” Alex said.</p><p>“Just say… you’re from Sweden!” Julie said, picking the first lie she could think of.</p><p>“Julie,” Alex said flatly. “We don’t have Swedish accents.”</p><p>“Yeah, I don’t even know what a Swedish accent sounds like,” Reggie said. “Unless it’s like the Muppet? You know, the Swedish chef? You guys still have the Muppets, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, Muppets references are gonna fly just fine,” Julie said, trying to stay patient and calm. “Look, I don’t care what you tell them, just keep it simple and don’t freak out, and nobody will question it.”</p><p>To Julie’s surprise, Principal Lessa herself was standing at the front doors of the main school building.</p><p>“Boys,” she said. “Julie.”</p><p>“Is… something wrong?” Julie asked.</p><p>“Go on in, Julie, I just need to talk to the boys. They’ll meet you in your first class.”</p><p>Julie shrugged at them apologetically. Reggie waved at her as she walked away.</p><p>In her first class, History of Tactics, she made her way to her usual seat only to see Carrie drop her bag into it before Julie could sit.</p><p>“You don’t sit here anymore,” Carrie said.</p><p>“Excuse me?” Julie said.</p><p>“Jules!” Flynn seized her arm and pulled her away, sticking her tongue out at Carrie before turning her back on the blonde girl.</p><p>“They took you off the team,” Flynn said.</p><p>“What?” Julie whipped around. Carrie was carefully inspecting her nails, while Nick was watching Julie and Flynn with a worried expression. “Why?”</p><p>“I don’t know, they wouldn’t answer me! Julie, you have to convince them to give you back.”</p><p>“Yeah, they never let groups of three out into the field,” Julie said.</p><p>“The field? Jules, who cares about the field! I don’t care that the system can’t use me and spit me out when we don’t have an arbitrary quota reached for our buddy system, I care that my best friend is going to leave me alone with Queen Mean and Mr No Personality!”</p><p>“Nick’s a sweetheart,” Julie protested.</p><p>“Yeah, he’d have to actually talk about something other than the mission or asking us to get along, for you to know that,” Flynn said. Both girls sighed as they looked around the room. There was an extra, empty group of four chairs – was that where Julie was meant to sit?</p><p>“I’ll go ask,” Julie said. She only had a short time left before class, so she handed Flynn her things and ran down the hall toward the administrative offices.</p><p>“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked warily when Julie flung open the door. Julie winced as the door hit the wall. She <em>may</em> have gotten overexcited.</p><p>“I got taken off my team,” Julie said. “Now they don’t have a fourth person, and I don’t have a team.”</p><p>“Julie Molina?”</p><p>Julie nodded. The receptionist sighed and hit a button on the intercom.</p><p>“Principal Lessa, Julie Molina is here and wants to know why she’s not on her old team.”</p><p>That was not an encouraging sentence.</p><p>“You don’t have to interrupt her,” Julie said hastily. It was too late, though. The door to the principal’s office swung open. Julie could see Alex, Luke, and Reggie peering curiously past Principal Lessa, who stood in the doorway.</p><p>“Julie,” she said warmly. “Come on in. You have excellent timing. I’d almost think you were the prescient one.”</p><p>That was <em>really</em> not encouraging. Julie followed her principal inside, standing awkwardly between Luke and Reggie’s chairs.</p><p>Principal Lessa gestured, and a folding chair that had been leaning against the wall unfolded and floated over just behind Julie. When the chair’s legs touched the ground, Julie sat gingerly, earning a gentle smile from the principal.</p><p>“I’d hoped you’d be ok waiting in class,” Principal Lessa said.</p><p>“I can’t leave my team,” Julie blurted. “I mean, they never send us out if we haven’t got a full group of four. And am I being benched? Principal Lessa, you <em>know</em> I’m good at this.”</p><p>“Julie,” the principal said. Julie bit her lip.</p><p>“Sorry,” she said.</p><p>“We have someone in mind to take your place,” the principal said. “Your old team is fine. We want you to work with the boys.”</p><p>Julie turned her head slowly, embarrassed that she’d apparently been protesting a placement with the very people in the room with her. At least Luke looked sympathetic and Alex looked amused. Reggie… well, Reggie looked like he was still figuring out a puzzle.</p><p>“This way, you can exercise your natural leadership qualities without stepping on Nick’s toes all the time,” Principal Lessa said conspiratorially. Julie frowned, taken aback. Nick was nice, but he <em>didn’t</em> take charge – and neither did she! Half the time she had to back him up, and restate things so they sounded more confident, but he’d talked to her after their very first mission! He’d <em>asked</em> her to help him!</p><p>“That’s really mean,” Reggie spoke up, startling Julie. “Julie’s not like that.”</p><p>“Like what, Mr Peters? A leader?”</p><p>Reggie sat back in his chair, sending Julie a guilty glance, but she smiled at him. She knew what he meant.</p><p>“Your schedule will change slightly, to accommodate the boys’ needs,” the principal said, taking a piece of paper from her desk and passing it to Julie. Julie swallowed as she looked at it.</p><p>“I barely have any of the same classes,” she said.</p><p>“Your only registration change is enrolment in leadership,” the principal said.</p><p>“I meant the periods,” Julie said. “My friends…”</p><p>“You can see them outside of class hours,” Principal Lessa said. “Or… were you using class hours to socialise previously?”</p><p>“Sorry,” Julie said.</p><p>“Well, I think we’re only a few minutes into your first class,” Principal Lessa said with a glance at the clock. “Any more questions?”</p><p>They all quietly shook their heads.</p><p>“Then, Julie, I think you should show them where to go.”</p><p>On the way back to History of Tactics, Luke spoke up.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Julie,” he said.</p><p>“You didn’t make the decision,” Julie said. “You know how it is.”</p><p>She remembered what they’d said about Reggie getting tested because Alex and Luke had.</p><p>“How did you guys get lucky enough to be assigned to a team with all your friends, anyway?” she asked. “Flynn and I just lucked out. And I think they hoped I’d convince her to use her power.”</p><p>“Wait, they don’t let you choose teams now?” Alex asked. Julie shook her head.</p><p>“If they did, do you think Flynn, Carrie and I would have ended up on the same team?” she asked. She tried not to think about the fact that once upon a time, that had been their dream.</p><p>“I know we’re probably the last team you would have picked,” Alex said.</p><p>“You guys are great!” Julie protested. “Ok, yeah, I would have <em>liked</em> to be on a team with Flynn still. We work together. I like you.”</p><p>“There’s kind of a difference between liking us and trusting us to watch your back,” Luke said. “Not that I’m saying we can’t, but… most people don’t expect us to.”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s like people think we’re bad luck or something,” Reggie said.</p><p>“Dude, you kind of are,” Luke said, shoving him playfully. Reggie bounced his shoulder back into Luke, who almost bumped Julie. Julie tensed, and Luke hastily stepped away.</p><p>“Sorry,” he said.</p><p>“It’s ok,” Julie said.</p><p>"It's still not fair that they stuck you with us," Luke said. "I mean, you'll do great no matter what. You're like a human wrecking ball!"</p><p>"Is that a compliment?" Julie said, laughing. "You haven't even seen me fight."</p><p>"Yeah, but we've seen you," he said. Julie's voice failed her for a few seconds. Nobody outside her family and Flynn had ever said something like that to her, not in such a simple, genuine way.</p><p>“Come on, before Byrne throws a fit because we’re late," she said.</p><p>Mrs Byrne had apparently expected them to be late.</p><p>“Julie, I see you’ve brought our newest team,” she said. “Everyone, they’re transfers. Don’t pester them with questions, they’ve got enough to deal with catching up.”</p><p>“Jules!” Flynn hissed as Julie sat with them. She lifted her hands in question. Julie shrugged ruefully. Flynn huffed and sank in her chair, arms crossed. The fourth seat in Flynn’s team still sat empty, and Julie wondered where her replacement was.</p><p>“That’s enough staring, let’s get started!” Mrs Byrne called out. Julie pulled out her notes and pushed them to the centre of the table so the boys could see what they were doing. It was going to be a very long day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The part where Luke is incredibly and mostly accidentally smooth at the end happened entirely because I'm trying to name each chapter after canon lines or songs that get used, and I didn't have a good reason to name this "Nick's a sweetheart". This has been fun facts.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. You Dinged My Board</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn’t until second period, when Julie and her new, Flynn-less team were gone, that Flynn finally got to find out who was replacing her best friend. He came to the team in Mr Morrison’s wake, a boy with long hair and dark eyes whose mouth smiled even while his eyes darted between Flynn and Carrie warily.</p><p>(Flynn got poetic when she was sad, sometimes, and Julie leaving the team was just about the saddest occurrence. Anyway, the boy was both pretty, in an objective, boy kind of way, and highly suspicious.)</p><p>“Who are you?” Flynn asked. It came out maybe a little too Carrie, but she was still stinging from the loss of Julie. Flynn was allowed a little snappishness.</p><p>“William Covington is your new teammate,” Mr Morrison said sternly. “Make him feel welcome, girls.”</p><p>“It’s… just Willie,” the boy said as their teacher left.</p><p>“Hi,” Flynn said grudgingly. It wasn’t his fault he was replacing Julie. “I’m Flynn. The menace to society is Carrie. Supposedly we have a leader –“</p><p>“He’s on his way,” Carrie said sharply. Typical, only standing up for her so-called boyfriend when he wasn’t there and it didn’t matter anyway. It wasn’t like Flynn would ever do more than <em>tease</em> Nick.</p><p>“Hey!” Nick said, as if on cue. “Sorry I’m late, I – Willie?”</p><p>The two boys laughed and fistbumped. Flynn raised her eyebrows at Carrie, who looked equally startled.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” Nick asked Willie, as though there was any other reason for a kid to be at this school.</p><p>“Apparently, I’m on your team,” Willie said.</p><p>“Caleb’s letting you come to school?” Nick asked, sounding incredulous.</p><p>“First, who’s Caleb?” Flynn cut in. “Second, and much more important, <em>you</em> weren’t <em>forced</em> to come here as soon as they knew about your powers? I want whatever you’re having. Why would you ever change that, oh my god.”</p><p>Willie laughed.</p><p>“Caleb is my guardian,” he said. “And he’s… pretty much the only person who’s allowed to homeschool kids like us.”</p><p>“So you still had to do all the child soldier stuff?” Flynn asked. This Caleb guy sounded much less interesting now.</p><p>“Flynn!” Nick hissed.</p><p>“Oh, my god,” Carrie muttered.</p><p>Willie just laughed again.</p><p>“Something like that,” he said. Yet again, Flynn didn’t think his smile reached his eyes.</p><p>“So what do you <em>do</em>?” Carrie asked.</p><p>Willie shrugged.</p><p>“This,” he said, disappearing and reappearing a foot away.</p><p>“Great,” Carrie said. “Another useless one. Can you at least take people with you? Or are you like Flynn, and might as well not have a power at all?”</p><p>“Carrie, back off!” Nick said. He didn’t quite snap – if he had, Flynn might have thought the world was ending. But standing up to Carrie?</p><p>After a moment of shocked silence, Carrie looked at Willie.</p><p>“Sorry,” she said. “That was out of line.”</p><p>Did this kid have some kind of personality-swap powers? The only sign Flynn had that she wasn’t going completely insane was Carrie’s calculating gaze. Nick was still half-glaring at his girlfriend.</p><p>“Hey, you don’t know me, I get it,” Willie said. “And for your information, I can take people with me. If I want to.”</p><p>Flynn couldn’t resist a little “ooh!” She loved it when Carrie got burned, even by random boys with suspect smiles.</p><p>“Seriously?” Carrie muttered to her. Flynn smirked at her.</p><p> </p><p>Willie’s first PE class should have gone well. On paper, it did. The assignment was an obstacle course, where you could use any power to get through as long as you didn’t leave your teammates behind. Since Willie could teleport people with him, they completed it in under a second.</p><p>The problem was, Flynn seemed mad at him for it, and Carrie was still eyeing him like a piece of meat. Only Nick seemed enthused, offering a hand for a high-five-turned-bro-hug that Willie gladly obliged. When they were given permission to hang out on the field and do as they pleased for the remainder of class, the two girls walked off in opposite directions.</p><p>“Sorry about them,” Nick said, following Willie’s gaze towards Flynn, who sat on the grass glaring at the course like she could set it on fire with her eyes. The only thing Willie had to tell him she couldn’t was Carrie calling her power useless, now that he thought about it. What <em>could</em> Flynn do?</p><p>“It’s ok,” Willie said. He was used to it. Caleb’s other kids tended to resent him, too, like he could help being the youngest or something.</p><p>“No, it’s not,” Nick said. “I think they’re just upset about Julie.”</p><p>Willie frowned. “Isn’t Carrie the one who hates Julie?”</p><p>Nick sighed, picking a handful of grass and letting it scatter in the wind.</p><p>“That’s complicated,” he said. “She doesn’t exactly… talk to me about it. But Julie’s mom was friends with Carrie’s dad.”</p><p>“And Carrie’s dad…” Willie said, trying to remember what Nick had told him about the team, on the nights when his family came to Caleb’s club.</p><p>“Is Trevor Wilson,” Nick finished. Willie sucked in a breath.</p><p>That did explain a lot about Carrie.</p><p>“Anyway, there’s a lot of rumours,” Nick said. “Not that I believe them, and I won’t tell you, because that’s not fair. But Carrie and Julie were friends right up until the truth came out about Carrie’s dad, and I know Carrie pretty well. She’s not upset with you.”</p><p>“Well, at least that’s a relief,” Willie said. He considered asking about Nick and Carrie – the dynamic between them was not at all what he’d expected from how often Nick talked about her, or from the titles of “boyfriend and girlfriend” – but he honestly didn’t know how to do it without sounding weird.</p><p>“I should go talk to her,” Nick said suddenly. He smiled at Willie, who smiled reflexively back. Right. Maybe they were a good couple, and this was all hero school politics he was seeing. Not exactly Willie’s place to speculate.</p><p>“I’ll see you in a bit,” Nick said.</p><p>“I’ll be here,” Willie said, letting his grin drop once Nick was far enough away.</p><p>He <em>needed</em> to go skateboarding after school. Actually do something <em>fun</em> for a change.</p><p> </p><p>Alex groaned in frustration. He’d been tapping away at the stupid laptop for an hour, because Julie had said you could find anything on the internet, and he’d found “anything,” all right. Just nothing that he specifically wanted.</p><p>“How are you doing?” Julie asked, peering over his shoulder as she sat down next to him on the couch. Luke was sprawled out in a chair, messing with his guitar. Reggie had wandered back to the house, no doubt to trail after Ray like a lost puppy. “Do you want me to look for you?”</p><p>“I want to just <em>know</em>,” Alex grumbled. “I have found <em>so many</em> Kathleen Mercers. Even juniors! And apparently none of the ones that have a… Facebook… are the ones I’m related to.”</p><p>“You’re trying to talk to your mom?” Julie asked tentatively. Luke’s bored strumming stopped.</p><p>“No,” Alex said, trying to ignore the way his belly felt like a balloon trying to float away. Julie didn’t know. She couldn’t. “My sister.” He sighed.</p><p>“Though, if I could find my mom at this point I wouldn’t complain, because maybe she’d lead me to Kat!”</p><p>He tried to breathe slowly. Luke scrambled to sit up. Julie reached out her hand like she wanted to touch but wasn’t sure she should.</p><p>“I need to know what <em>happened</em>,” he squeezed out between gasps.</p><p>“Dude,” Luke said.</p><p>“Don’t <em>touch</em> me,” Alex said, standing up before either friend could. “I’m sorry, just – I need a walk or something.”</p><p>“Take your phone?” Julie asked, holding it out. Alex swallowed, hating the thing on principle because it was just another thing that had changed.</p><p>But she was right. He snatched it and tucked it away into his fanny pack, which Julie had <em>not</em> been able to talk him out of, and hurried out.</p><p>Years of walking off panic attacks meant he’d made his way towards the city proper by the time he started to breathe normally. Now it was just the hard breath of exertion, not anxiety, that kept rubbing his throat raw.</p><p>That had been such a stupid thing to freak out over. And yelling at Luke and Julie like that – Alex was just glad Reggie wasn’t there. That would be all he needed. A whole trifecta of friends to mess up, like he messed up everything no matter how much he planned for it.</p><p>Of course, if Reggie were there he’d point out something like “I’m the one who messes everything up, you’re just the guy who helps me clean up!” And Luke would probably calm him, but he’d also keep hugging Alex, trying to ground him, unless it was one of Alex’s no hugging days. He still had them. They hadn’t changed.</p><p>“Coming through!” somebody cackled gleefully, right before Alex was hit from behind and sent sprawling onto the pavement. His attacker leapt up, groaning as he inspected his skateboard.</p><p>“Dude, I think you dinged my board! How’d you even do that?”</p><p>“How’d I – I dinged your – you dinged me!” Alex protested as he dusted himself off.</p><p>“Yeah, I kinda did,” his attacker said ruefully, before taking off his helmet. Alex’s anger left in a bewildering rush as the boy carelessly flipped his silky brown hair, which fell softly to his shoulders as he grinned brightly at Alex. Alex was forcibly reminded that he was gay.</p><p>“Sorry for pancaking you,” the boy said. Alex tried to remember words. “I… kinda thought I’d pass right through you. You can see me and everything?”</p><p>“Uh… yeah,” Alex said. “Because you’re in front of me?”</p><p>The boy laughed.</p><p>“That’s my power, or one of them,” he said. “Invisibility! Not as cool as you’d think, but I never get busted for skating wherever I want. How’d you see me?”</p><p>“Oh, well,” Alex said. He searched for a way to sound clever. “I see things.”</p><p>Not clever, not clever!</p><p>“Right,” the boy said. “Invisible things? Or just like, Marilyn Monroe over there?”</p><p>“Honestly, I thought it was just the future,” Alex said. “But I didn’t exactly have a lot of invisible people to test it out on.”</p><p>The boy laughed again, and Alex felt very proud of himself for managing such a witty response.</p><p>“I guess it’s just… stuff other people can’t,” Alex said. “Not that I ever see what I want to see.”</p><p>“Never?” the boy asked. Alex had <em>not </em>meant to say that last part out loud, and he panicked.</p><p>“I’m Alex,” he said hastily, holding out his hand.</p><p>“Willie,” the boy said, eyeing him speculatively as he shook Alex’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”</p><p>He set his skateboard down and put his helmet back on. Alex frantically searched for something else to say.</p><p>“So what would you like to see?” Willie asked, startling Alex. He had one foot on his board, but made no move to take off.</p><p>“The past,” Alex admitted. He winced when he realised what he’d given away, but surely it couldn’t be that big of a deal?</p><p>Willie gave him a knowing look.</p><p>“Got things you want to change?” he said.</p><p>“Uh… I don’t really know,” Alex said. “Kind of why I want to see.”</p><p>Willie nodded.</p><p>“Come on,” he said. “Keep up with me, and we can pool our history knowledge. You can tell me about school.”</p><p>“You don’t… go to Los Feliz?” Alex said slowly.</p><p>“I just started,” Willie admitted. “Kind of new, and kind of freaky.”</p><p>Alex could understand that.</p><p>“Late bloomer?” he said sympathetically. He’d known a few, kids coming in late in high school with no idea what the system was like.</p><p>“It’s complicated,” Willie said.</p><p>“Well, you’ve picked about the worst person to ask,” Alex said, hurrying after Willie as he skated off. “I just transferred in.”</p><p>Willie stopped at the corner.</p><p>“No kidding?” His eyes sparkled when he looked at Alex. “Where from?”</p><p>Alex panicked. Again.</p><p>“Sweden,” he blurted.</p><p>Willie snorted.</p><p>“No way,” he said.</p><p>“Well, I could tell you I’m from the past, is that more believable?” Alex continued, because apparently he was both an idiot and far too gay for his own good. Luckily, Willie laughed.</p><p>“All right, you’re from Sweden,” he said.</p><p>“Glad you trust me,” Alex said drily. Willie shrugged at him, then took off again when the light changed.</p><p>“Me, too!” he hollered at Alex, who ran to keep up.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh, look, the drastic AU begins in earnest. While the show continues to be a skeleton for a while longer, it only gets crazier from here.<br/>Why are so many details about Willie just a little weird? Because I saw an opportunity and took it, and also my friends are blatant fic enablers.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Voice of an Angel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Julie hadn’t gotten a single text from Flynn throughout all of Monday. She’d been expecting a flood of them, about her replacement or Carrie or Nick, or asking Julie for updates on the boys. Flynn hadn’t even sat with her at lunch. Julie was trying not to freak out, but also she was definitely freaking out. Did Flynn blame her for leaving the team? Did she feel like Julie was replacing <em>Flynn</em> with the guys?</p><p>For a brief moment that evening, she could push her fears away in favour of different fears when Alex had his anxiety attack and stormed out, but eventually he returned all smiles with news of a new friend, and Julie’s nerves about Flynn returned full-force.</p><p><em>You ok</em>? She sent around dinnertime.</p><p><em>Yeah</em>, was all she got back, which for Flynn was as good as an admission that she was crying in the bathroom.</p><p>“What’s up with you?” Carlos asked, poking her with a spoon as he set the table. Julie rolled her eyes at him.</p><p>“None of your business,” she said. “I was just talking to Flynn.”</p><p>“Then why do you look upset?” Carlos asked.</p><p>“I’m not <em>upset</em>,” Julie lied, waving her hands so wildly she knocked the spoons out of Carlos’s hand and sent them clattering across the floor.</p><p>“Sure,” Carlos said. “And that was you trying to be a percussionist, right?”</p><p>“Go get some more spoons,” Julie said.</p><p>“Wait, no fair, you dropped them!”</p><p>“And I’m picking them up,” Julie said as she knelt down.</p><p>“Hey, Julie!” Reggie said, accidentally sending one of the spoons skidding across the floor and under the couch. Julie sat back on her heels and glared up at him.</p><p>“Sorry,” he said. “We had a question!”</p><p>“Was it, ‘would you like me to grab that spoon?’” Julie asked as she collected the last of the reachable silverware and stood up. Luke and Alex joined Reggie. Luke was bouncing so much she thought he might actually vibrate through the floor.</p><p>“No, although would you?”</p><p>Julie raised her eyebrows at him.</p><p>“I think that’s a yes,” Alex whispered to him loudly. Reggie started to scramble over to the couch, but Luke grabbed him.</p><p>“First, Julie, we gotta ask,” he said earnestly. Julie folded her arms, eyeing him. What was he up to now? “Do you wanna be in our band?”</p><p>“Your band,” Julie repeated flatly.</p><p>“Yeah!” Luke said. He and Reggie were bouncing at the same pace now, and Alex was watching her like she was about to announce the future of the universe.</p><p>“We’re already superheroes,” Julie said. “How would we find the time?”</p><p>“We managed fine,” Luke said, gesturing around.</p><p>“Things were a lot different in the nineties,” Julie said, because that much she knew was true simply from dealing with the guys at school that day.</p><p>“Yeah, but not music,” Luke said. “The one constant in our lives. So how about it? You’re <em>amazing</em>, we’d be so lucky to have you.”</p><p>Julie could almost imagine Flynn saying <em>Yeah, you would</em>. She checked her phone again. No new messages.</p><p>“Julie?” Luke asked, excitement dying just a bit.</p><p>“I’m just… somebody who sings people to sleep and breaks things with her voice,” Julie said. “My power isn’t exactly something you want in a show.”</p><p>“Julie, you have the voice of an angel!” Reggie protested.</p><p>“Look, I’ve just got a lot to think about right now,” Julie said, intensely aware of the fact that her phone hadn’t buzzed. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Is it your mom?” Luke asked. Julie looked down. Her mom would probably have been thrilled for her to join a band. She was always pushing Julie to find new things to do with her voice, not the way school asked her to train her powers, but the way Julie imagined a real vocal coach would.</p><p>“I’m just worried about Flynn,” Julie said. “She hasn’t talked to me all day, not since we found out about our teams.”</p><p>“Did something happen?” Alex asked.</p><p>Julie shrugged.</p><p>“Yeah, but… you can be friends with Flynn and still be in the band,” Luke said, sounding bewildered.</p><p>“Dude,” Alex said. Reggie frowned like he was trying to figure out why Alex had protested. Julie sighed.</p><p>“Let’s just… eat dinner,” she said.</p><p>“Oh! I’ll get that spoon!” Reggie exclaimed, practically diving for the couch and peering under.</p><p>“Ooh,” he said, muffled by his cheek pressing into the floor. “What’s this?” He pulled out a piece of paper and smoothed it out. Julie’s eyes widened in alarm.</p><p>“Nothing! That’s nothing,” she said, trying to grab it from Reggie.</p><p>“Julie, is this a poem? It’s cool!” he said, standing up just in time to miss Julie’s swipe, though she was almost sure he hadn’t even seen her. She caught her balance and tried to snatch it again, only for Reggie to hand it off to Luke. When Reggie turned, he seemed surprised to see her.</p><p>“It’s just something I wrote for Flynn,” she said. “It’s stupid.”</p><p>“Dude, you write, too?” Luke exclaimed. Julie made one last lunge for the paper, only to trip over Reggie’s foot and fall onto Luke, who stumbled back into the table.</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” Reggie said immediately.</p><p>“Is everybody ok out here? Julie, what’s going on?” her dad asked as he and Carlos arrived. Julie looked at the red-faced boy in front of her and pulled her hands away from his shoulders like she’d been burned.</p><p>“Sorry,” Luke said, passing her the paper quietly.</p><p>“It’s ok,” Julie muttered. She started to rip it, but something stopped her. Instead, she crumpled it up like it didn’t mean a thing and shoved it in her pocket.</p><p>“Did any more silverware suffer casualties?” Julie’s dad asked. Julie looked guiltily at the table, relieved to find that although things had scattered slightly, they hadn’t fallen.</p><p>“All right, enough throwing each other around, let’s eat,” Julie’s dad said.</p><p>Thankfully, the guys’ appetites kept them from asking her about the band while they ate. Julie was continually impressed at the amount of food they could scarf down.</p><p>Just as they were cleaning up, there was a knock at the door. Julie looked around, but everybody looked as bewildered as she felt.</p><p>“I’ll get it,” her dad said. Julie, Carlos, and the guys craned their necks to see who it was.</p><p>“Hi, Mr Molina, I was kind of hoping to talk to Julie?”</p><p>It was Flynn.</p><p>“You’re in luck, we just finished dinner,” he said, letting her in. “Is everything ok?”</p><p>“No,” Flynn said. “But yeah, everything is totally fine, except Julie’s off the team!”</p><p>“I see,” Julie’s dad said. “Why don’t you girls go talk? We can take care of the dishes.” As he spoke, Reggie was already jumping up to gather plates.</p><p>“Ok, first of all, I’m so sorry I didn’t text you today, and I was gonna sit with you at lunch but Nick was all ‘oh no, we need team bonding’ like he’s ever cared about that before, and then I got home and Mom made me do all last week’s homework that I didn’t do because I was on strike for ethical reasons, which I still would be if she hadn’t grounded me, and then I drank seven sodas thinking about all this and I honestly thing Mom only let me come over because I was driving her crazy.”</p><p>When Flynn paused for breath, Julie gently manoeuvred her onto the couch and sat across from her.</p><p>“What’s going on, Flynn?” she said gently.</p><p>“You’re leaving me behind, Jules!” Flynn said. “Look, we all know a team you lead is going to be the best thing ever, and we also know I don’t <em>want</em> to be a superhero. You’ll keep getting all these assignments and put in new classes and going to other countries, and we’ll eventually just be Instagram friends, and every time I hit that little heart <em>my</em> heart will be breaking.”</p><p>“I won’t leave you behind,” Julie insisted.</p><p>“Not on purpose! Jules, we all know that when it comes to school nobody has a choice,” Flynn said. “We’ll grow apart. I’ll end up having more in common with <em>Carrie</em> than I do you.” She buried her face in her hands.</p><p>“They’ll make me use my power,” she said, so softly Julie could barely make it out.</p><p>“Nick wouldn’t,” Julie said. “And if he did, I’d beat him up for you.”</p><p>“You only beat up bad guys, and only if you know for sure they deserve it,” Flynn said. “You’re too nice.”</p><p>“I would if it was for you,” Julie said. “Anyway, we both know Nick wouldn’t do that, so it doesn’t matter.”</p><p>“Nick would if the school told him to,” Flynn said. “And they <em>want</em> to.”</p><p>“So keep saying no,” Julie said. “And I promise, if you ever need me to back you up, I will.”</p><p>“Ok,” Flynn said, nodding. It looked like maybe the seven sodas were wearing down. “Ok. I should probably go home before Mom double-grounds me.”</p><p>“Yeah, maybe,” Julie said with a laugh. “See you tomorrow?”</p><p>“First period, you better,” Flynn said. She held her arms up, and Julie gladly went in for the hug.</p><p>She found her dad and Carlos in the kitchen, making ice cream sundaes with whatever random toppings they’d found in the back of the pantry.</p><p>“Special occasion, or are we just cleaning out the things that are getting old?” Julie asked, picking up a dusty package of chopped peanuts.</p><p>“We’re making your new team feel welcome,” Carlos said loftily.</p><p>“I think he just wanted ice cream, but it’s not a bad idea,” her dad confided in Julie. “You wanna help me take these out to them?”</p><p>“They’re in the studio again?” Julie asked.</p><p>“I may not have known them for long, but I already know they’d live in there if we let them,” her dad said, handing her one with a mess of sprinkles that were definitely not colour-coordinated. Julie had a hunch this was meant to be Reggie’s.</p><p>“Julie, which one do you want?” Carlos said, presenting her with a choice between what looked like an attempt at a smiley face drawn in hot fudge (though it looked more like a devil) and a bowl that was more sprinkle than ice cream.</p><p>“Do I get to make my own?”</p><p>“No, you snooze you lose,” Carlos said.</p><p>“The weird face, then,” Julie said, taking the bowl with her free hand.</p><p>“It was meant to be a cat,” Carlos said sulkily, which Julie had to admit explained where the apparent devil horns came from.</p><p>“Thank you,” Julie said to him as she carried hers and maybe-Reggie’s out.</p><p>“I’m amazing!” Carlos reminded her loudly.</p><p>Alex seemed surprised to receive his, though Julie knew her dad would have gotten their orders, especially since nuts were on the table. Reggie bounded over to take his from Julie, who felt a little smug about having called it.</p><p>“Thanks,” Luke said to Julie’s dad.</p><p>“Don’t stay out here too late, or get too loud,” he warned the boys. “There’s neighbours to consider, remember?”</p><p>“Also we have homework,” Julie reminded them, receiving groans. Her dad chuckled and rubbed her shoulder before he left.</p><p>“Are you sticking around, though?” Luke asked. Julie glanced down at the bowl in her hands. She <em>had</em> brought it out with her.</p><p>“All right,” she said.</p><p>“Great! Look, we were playing with a melody, for some of the words Reggie and I remember –“</p><p>“You’re writing a song?” Julie stopped him. “Based off my Flynn poem?”</p><p>“You could play it for her,” Reggie said. “It might cheer her up.”</p><p>“You didn’t even ask me,” Julie said.</p><p>“Julie, come on, you’re an amazing writer, and this could be really good. Reggie, what is it? <em>If somebody hurts you, I’m gonna get hurt too…</em>”</p><p>Reggie helpfully set down his ice cream and picked out the bass line. Alex just shrugged at Julie.</p><p>“It is shaping up to be a cool song,” he said unhelpfully. Julie sighed.</p><p>“Fine,” she said. “Fine! One song. And I’m involved, because it’s <em>my</em> song. Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing, trying to get me to join your band.”</p><p>“Is it working?” Luke asked eagerly.</p><p>“Dude,” Alex said as Julie gave him a withering look.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>After posting this there will be a tag change, which is not an indication of anything that I think will happen soon in this but I am changing it now because I finally figured out that I do in fact want to go that direction and how I will do so. I am very eager to embark on this path, it is the first time I've ever shipped something where characters have never actually met in canon and you can absolutely blame PJO_Connoisseur for this one in particular.<br/>As for today's chapter... Guess who's getting Flying Solo next time!<br/>Flynn. Also you. I'm sure you're all very shocked.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Flying Solo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Flynn had barely put her things in her locker before Julie was at her side, looking equal parts nervous and excited.</p><p>“Flynn, do you think your mom would let you come over after school?” Julie said.</p><p>“Well, I am supposed to be grounded,” Flynn reminded her, but it wasn’t a no and they both knew it.</p><p>“How about if we tell her we’re working on homework?” Julie suggested.</p><p>“You mean, if I tell her because the instant you try to lie we’re both caught and grounded?” Flynn said.</p><p>“I mean… we could work on homework, too,” Julie muttered, like that somehow was going to save face for her whole lying thing. If anybody ever straight up <em>asked</em> Julie if she was a superhero, she’d probably just tell them her name, power set, and the school she went to on the spot. Flynn sometimes wondered why acting classes weren’t more of a thing at school, given the whole secret identity thing.</p><p>“I’ll ask,” Flynn said. “Is something going on?”</p><p>“No!” Julie lied. Flynn waited.</p><p>“Ok, I have a surprise for you? I don’t know if you’ll even like it, it was Reggie’s idea and it’s really silly, but I thought it might make you feel a little better about the whole not-on-a-team-together thing?”</p><p>“Jules,” Flynn said fondly. “Ok, now I <em>have </em>to come. I will <em>beg </em>my mom if I have to. Bended knee and everything.”</p><p>“Oh, my god, now I have to make sure it’s actually <em>ready</em>,” Julie murmured. Flynn laughed.</p><p>“Where are the guys?” she asked. Julie rolled her eyes and nodded down the hallway, where Flynn saw their heads poking around a corner. When they saw Flynn looking at them, they scrambled to pull back.</p><p>“You have your work cut out for you,” Flynn observed.</p><p>“Tell me about it,” Julie said. She sighed. “They asked me to be in their band.”</p><p>“What? No! I have dibs,” Flynn said. “We promised we’d be in a band together. Double Trouble!”</p><p>“First of all, I never agreed to that name,” Julie said. “Second, we were just kids.”</p><p>Flynn frowned. Much as she didn’t want to miss out on Double Trouble, she also just wanted Julie to play for people again.</p><p>“Music was your whole life, Julie,” she said. “You not playing is like – like a year without Christmas or something.”</p><p>“Music still <em>is</em> my whole life, Flynn,” Julie said.</p><p>“No, fighting is,” Flynn said. “Jules, you used your mom’s song on some random henchman.”</p><p>“I don’t really want to talk about this right now, Flynn,” Julie said.</p><p>“I know, because you never want to.” They stopped walking, and Julie glared at her. Flynn set her jaw stubbornly. She was <em>right</em>.</p><p>Julie looked away first.</p><p>“I won’t have time,” she said. “Mom never did.”</p><p>“Julie,” Flynn said softly, reaching out to her. Julie let Flynn pull her into a hug. “Would your mom want you to avoid music because of her, or do it for her?”</p><p>“That is a blatant emotional manipulation,” Julie said, her voice muffled by Flynn’s shoulder.</p><p>“Yeah, you know I’m right,” Flynn said. “Come on. Time to go listen to people talk about the best ways to hurt people.” She rolled her eyes. “Just a fun way to spend the day, right?”</p><p>Flynn texted her mom about going over to Julie’s, and she eventually gave in on the grounds that they’d get through the rough draft of their essay that day. It was kind of a tall order, but it wasn’t like her mom was going to grade her on it, so Flynn figured as long as she slapped something down on the paper she was good.</p><p>When they got to Julie’s, Julie ushered Flynn into the house but then turned around and left again.</p><p>“Just give us ten minutes!” Julie said as she left. She poked her head back inside a second later. “Maybe fifteen.”</p><p>“Um, what just happened?” Flynn asked.</p><p>Carlos shrugged.</p><p>“She’s the world’s weirdest sister?” he said. “Hey, did you know if you take a picture and you see these orbs of light, it means there were ghosts there?”</p><p>Flynn was pretty sure ghosts weren’t real, but she leaned over Carlos’s shoulder to see the pictures anyway.</p><p>“You know that kinda just looks like JJ Abrams practicing for his Star Trek movies, right?” Flynn said. Carlos gave her a dirty look.</p><p>“Fine,” he said. “See if I share the credit with you when I find a ghost and get famous for it.”</p><p>“That might be the weirdest career plan you’ve ever had,” Flynn said. “And when you were six, you wanted to run an armadillo farm.”</p><p>“I was going to breed them as pets, and I still think that could work if I got the right investors,” Carlos said loftily. Flynn shook her head fondly.</p><p>“Ok, we’re ready,” Julie announced, barging into the house once more. “I hope.”</p><p>“Do you know what this is about?” Flynn whispered to Carlos, who smugly mimed zipping his lips.</p><p>“Julie takes out the trash for me if I don’t tell,” he said.</p><p>“Wow, Jules, you really can’t haggle,” Flynn said.</p><p>“Come on,” Julie said, rolling her eyes and pushing Flynn out the door and towards the studio.</p><p>Inside, the guys were ready with their instruments and grins on their faces. Julie gently pushed Flynn to sit down and then took her place at the keyboard. It took all the self-control Flynn had to keep her jaw from dropping.</p><p>“So the guys found this poem I wrote for you, or an early draft and then they made me dig out the real one from my dream box, and then they started putting it to music, and it seemed like maybe you’d like it since I know you’re worried about us not being as close anymore which I swear you don’t have to worry about –“</p><p>“Oh, my god, Jules!” Flynn interrupted. “Are you gonna play or what?”</p><p>Julie rolled her eyes at her, but she looked grateful that Flynn had stopped her before she got too far in that ramble. Julie glanced at Luke, who nodded eagerly, and then started to play.</p><p>“<em>If I leave you on a bad note, leave you on a sad note, guess that means I’m buying lunch that day,</em>” Julie sang. Flynn glanced over at the boys, all looking ready to play but none actually playing. They mostly seemed entranced with Julie, which was fair.</p><p>Then the chorus started, the boys came in, and Julie actually jumped up to pull Flynn up and dance with her. Flynn laughed, thrilled, and tried not to think about how long it had been since they did anything like this.</p><p>As Julie ended the song, she took Flynn’s hand and pressed their foreheads together. Flynn tried not to cry. Julie’s message was well-received: they were stuck together for good.</p><p>“So, Julie,” Luke said as she and Flynn broke apart. “Does this mean you’re joining our band?”</p><p>“Uh…” Julie said. Flynn saw her chance and took it. No way was Julie disowning her as a friend directly after a song like that.</p><p>“Actually, I think you’re joining her band,” Flynn said.</p><p>Julie stared at her wide-eyed, but Luke looked thrilled. Flynn shrugged at Julie, who smiled reluctantly.</p><p>“Sure,” she said. “We can try it.”</p><p>The boys erupted in cheers, and Flynn hugged Julie close to her.</p><p>A boring, pre-set ringtone interrupted them. Alex jumped, his hand going to his fanny pack, looking horrified.</p><p>“Why is it shaking?” he hissed at Julie.</p><p>“Your phone is ringing?” she said. “Who is it? Answer it!”</p><p>He fumbled with his pack and held the phone away from him like he was worried it would bite him. His eyes widened and he looked up at Julie in alarm.</p><p>“It’s Willie!”</p><p>“Wait, Willie?” Flynn asked, but she went unnoticed.</p><p>“You gave him your number?” Julie exclaimed gleefully.</p><p>“He kind of… gave himself my number,” Alex said. The panic on his face grew. “Is that weird?”</p><p>“That’s flirting, Alex,” Julie said. “Answer it!”</p><p>“Uh…”</p><p>“Oh, that button!” Reggie said, leaning over Alex’s shoulder. Alex gave him an annoyed glance before swiping the screen and lifting the phone to his ear.</p><p>“So… Willie?” Flynn asked in an undertone.</p><p>“Alex met this guy the other day, and he’s new to school, too,” Julie said. “I’m almost positive he has a <em>giant</em> crush.”</p><p>From all the blushing and stammering happening over by the drumset, Flynn thought that was a safe bet.</p><p>“You know my new teammate is also a guy named Willie who’s new to school?” Flynn asked quietly.</p><p>“Oh my god,” Julie said. “They literally had class together this morning and Alex didn’t even notice?”</p><p>“Or he did and he gay-panicked, which would be incredibly fair,” Flynn said.</p><p>“He had the long hair, right?” Julie asked. “I only saw his back in class today.”</p><p>“That’s him,” Flynn said. She considered telling Julie how weird he seemed to her, but since Flynn knew a good chunk of that was her being petty and Willie clearly meant a lot to Alex, she kept quiet.</p><p>“Uh, I – I’d love to, I just…” Alex looked panicked.</p><p>“What’s he saying?” Reggie asked eagerly.</p><p>“He said he needed to get out of the house, he invited me skateboarding. I can’t skateboard!” Alex hissed.</p><p>“There is a very good chance he knows that,” Flynn said quietly. If she could skateboard and had just met a cute girl, she would <em>definitely</em> try to teach said cute girl everything she knew.</p><p>Luke looked conflicted.</p><p>“But the band…” he said. Reggie and Julie sent him comically identical dirty looks.</p><p>“Invite him here!” Julie blurted.</p><p>“What?” Alex blurted, and Flynn honestly hadn’t thought the panic could increase but here she was, being proved wrong.</p><p>“What?” Flynn asked, also horrified because she definitely had not been nice to Willie and this definitely would be awkward.</p><p>“He gets out of the house, you get to show off, and Luke can calm down because we can have a band rehearsal,” Julie said.</p><p>“Have I mentioned that Julie’s a genius?” Reggie said. “Julie’s a genius. Alex, tell him to come over!”</p><p>“Yeah, we should meet him,” Luke said, apparently eager to get in on the matchmaking now that his band rehearsal wasn’t threatened. Flynn wondered about that boy sometimes.</p><p>“I’m not gonna – Ok,” Alex said. He lifted the phone to his ear again.</p><p>“We were about to rehearse,” he said. “But you could come over?”</p><p>Everyone but Flynn watched with bated breath. Flynn wondered how instantaneous Willie’s teleportation was and if she could hide before he got there.</p><p>“Oh – oh yeah. Uh – Julie, what’s your address?” Alex hissed frantically. Julie ran forward, making grabby hands at him, and quickly rattled off the address when he held it out to her.</p><p>“We’re in the studio! The garage,” Julie added quickly.</p><p>A second later there was a knock on the door.</p><p>“Hi,” Willie said sheepishly when Reggie opened the door. Alex was still frozen behind his drums.</p><p>“Hi,” Alex said.</p><p>Julie coughed.</p><p>“Oh, uh, that’s Reggie,” Alex said as Reggie waved. “And Luke, and that’s Julie, and –“</p><p>“Flynn,” Willie said.</p><p>“Willie,” Flynn said with an uneasy smile. “This is my friend Julie, who you’ve heard about.”</p><p>“Wait, how do you – You know each other?” Alex said, bewildered.</p><p>“You guys were literally in class together this morning,” Flynn informed them cheerfully. “He’s on my team.”</p><p>“Oh, you replaced Julie!” Reggie said. Flynn and Willie both winced.</p><p>“Uh, you can come in,” Julie said quickly, glaring daggers at Flynn for a second. Flynn shrugged at her defensively. It wasn’t like she’d <em>known</em> Alex was going to fall in puppy love for the guy she was kind of a jerk to.</p><p>“Sorry,” Willie said. “Thanks.”</p><p>“So how’d you meet?” Flynn said, because she was trying to make an effort and that was the first thing she thought of. Nobody had ever accused Flynn of being a matchmaking genius, ok?</p><p>“Oh, he ran me over,” Alex said.</p><p>“Look, I thought I’d pass right through,” Willie said.</p><p>“Pass through?” Flynn repeated. Willie tensed slightly.</p><p>“Yeah, uh…”</p><p>“That’s one of his powers,” Alex said, looking between them. “Aren’t you on a team together?”</p><p>“One of,” Flynn repeated, looking Willie over with a new lens. He looked nervous, but honestly Flynn thought she might understand him now.</p><p>“Secret is safe with me,” Flynn said, sitting down on the couch. “Not like I ever talk about what I can do. You don’t exactly owe the school anything.”</p><p>Willie relaxed. Everyone else in the room seemed relieved, too, and Flynn had to privately admit that she was a little guilty at having made everybody worry. She wasn’t <em>actually</em> going to mess up Alex’s chances with this guy. Flynn was a firm believer in gay/lesbian solidarity.</p><p>“So I hear you guys have a band?” Willie said.</p><p>“Apparently,” Julie said, giving Flynn a stern glance. Flynn just smiled and patted the spot next to her, inviting Willie to come sit. He smiled back at her, and this time the smile <em>did</em> reach his eyes.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm almost glad about missing yesterday because it proves to myself both that I judged my limits correctly by not setting a specific time frame, and that I will not accidentally leave this hanging if i stop writing for a little. I have no intention of stopping, but like. It's nice for me to know.<br/>I am not, however, glad that i didn't get this chapter out yesterday because I was so incredibly excited about this. I love Flynn. It was very rude of yesterday me not to publish this chapter that is almost entirely about her.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Don't Bother Coming</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Flynn was sure the school did this on purpose.</p><p>“There’s gotta be at least twenty guys down there,” Willie observed, peering in through the skylight. “And considering this is an arms deal and that’s a whole lot of guns…”</p><p>“I can handle it,” Carrie said with a toss of her hair. “Just get me down there.”</p><p>“Twenty at once, Queen of the Damned?” Flynn asked sardonically. Carrie glared at her.</p><p>“Topflight can take out the ones I don’t get to,” she said. “Don’t bother coming, Flynn.”</p><p>“Look, as much as I despise you, I don’t really want to see you get shot full of holes because somebody caught on to your little song and dance routine,” Flynn said.</p><p>“Guys, stop. The Queen’s right, the two of us together are our best shot,” Nick said.</p><p>“Ok, so how are you going to do that?” Flynn pressed. If they were going to be idiots, they should at least be smart about it. “If Topflight goes in first, they all pick up guns. If you go in first, the ones you can’t reach pick up guns. Also, have I mentioned lately that I don’t really like taking away people’s agency?”</p><p>“Only every day, Flynn,” Carrie said, rolling her eyes. “They’re bad guys. It’s fine.” She looked at Willie.</p><p>“You get me in close enough to that group,” Carrie said, pointing at a cluster of maybe five goons who were furthest from the weapons crates. “You immediately go for Topflight and take him there. Then you keep taking me around the room.”</p><p>Willie glanced at Flynn. Flynn shook her head. It was the best plan they had, without either her or Willie giving away their powers and getting in deep trouble with the school for never having said what they could do. Besides, there was a <em>reason</em> Flynn wouldn’t use hers, and she imagined Willie was hiding his for something equally important.</p><p>“Here goes,” Willie said, reaching out for Carrie’s hand. They rematerialized below, exactly where Carrie had requested, and Carrie grabbed the nearest two men. Flynn could picture the saccharine smile on her face perfectly; Carrie had used it on her in class before, the one use of her power Flynn couldn’t blame her for.</p><p>The two men’s faces went slack, and the people around them scrambled for their weapons as Carrie grabbed two more and Willie went back for Nick. The people Carrie had touched waded through the alarmed goons like a ripple, disarming their coworkers and holding them until Carrie picked them off.</p><p>On the other side of the room, Nick ducked and wove through midair, hauling anybody who raised a weapon to him or Carrie up by the armpits and throwing them into the nearest wall. After the third sickening crunch, Flynn turned away.</p><p>She made a lot of jokes, but she <em>knew</em> the school did this on purpose.</p><p>“You ok?”</p><p>Flynn turned around, startled to find Willie next to her on the rooftop.</p><p>“No,” Flynn said. “This whole thing makes me sick.” He grimaced.</p><p>“Yeah, I didn’t think Ni- <em>Topflight</em> was so aggressive,” he said, glancing down.</p><p>“Not Nick,” Flynn said. “We all learn to maim people, you get used to it. Not that we should, but…”</p><p>“The Queen?” Willie asked.</p><p>The shouts, thuds, and occasional gunshots had slowed. Flynn turned around.</p><p>About fifteen dead-eyed adult criminals were smiling stupidly at Carrie, waiting for orders.</p><p>“Nobody should get to control anybody else,” Flynn said.</p><p>“Even if they’re villains?” Willie asked.</p><p>“Carrie of all people should have some respect for the humanity of supervillains,” Flynn said quietly.</p><p>“Come on,” Willie said after a moment. He held out his hand, and Flynn took it. “Still got a lot left to do.”</p><p> </p><p>“How was last night?” Julie asked when Flynn sat down with her team at lunch.</p><p>“How do you think?” Flynn asked. “Carrie’s newest sycophants won’t be rehabilitated for a month.”</p><p>“A <em>month</em>?” Julie repeated. “You’re kidding.”</p><p>“I think she’s showing off,” Flynn said. “Because nothing says ‘I deserve a team to lead’ like ruining seventeen people’s lives.”</p><p>“It’s not that bad,” Julie said. “Look, you know I make people do things, too. Flynn, you –“</p><p>“At least you don’t use that except as a last resort,” Flynn snapped, cutting her off. Julie frowned. Flynn didn’t know what she’d done to the first guard, the night they’d found the boys. Probably she thought Julie had gone for her usual sleep routine, or something.</p><p>She didn’t really want to tell Flynn about that, especially since it had been her mom’s song that she used.</p><p>“What exactly can Carrie do?” Alex asked, looking between the two girls.</p><p>“She just – touches you, and smiles at you, and then you literally will do whatever she asks,” Flynn said. “It’s horrifying.”</p><p>“Flynn feels very strongly about mind control,” Julie said.</p><p>“I’m sorry, am I wrong?” Flynn asked. “Julie, come on, tell me power practice with Carrie wasn’t one of the most horrifying experiences of your life.”</p><p>“It got bumped off the list,” Julie said mildly, trying to cover for the pit in her stomach. Flynn froze.</p><p>“Sorry,” she said. Julie just shook her head and smiled at Flynn. She didn’t really want to get into a fight.</p><p>“Hey,” a new voice said. Julie looked up to see Willie standing there, with Nick just behind his shoulder. “Could we sit with you?”</p><p>“Yes,” Alex said quickly. Julie made eye contact with Reggie across from her, and had to look away immediately before they both broke into laughter.</p><p>“You guys remember Nick?” Julie asked her teammates, who all nodded and greeted Nick.</p><p>“So Flynn said you did a lot on your first mission,” Alex said to Willie.</p><p>“I just poofed people around,” Willie said sheepishly.</p><p>“It would’ve been way harder without him,” Nick said, nudging Willie with his shoulder. “They didn’t know what hit them! If I’d had to fly Carrie down on my own?”</p><p>“Yeah, you’d both be Swiss cheese,” Flynn muttered. Julie sighed and elbowed her.</p><p>“It was pretty cool,” Flynn said. “But if anybody ever tells Carrie or one of the teachers that I said a superhero thing was cool I will be forced to commit murder, and we all know I could hide the body where it would never be found.”</p><p>“You’re always so cheerful, Flynn,” Alex said. Flynn smirked at him, but the look faded quickly.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Julie asked.</p><p>“Speaking of bodies,” Flynn said. She glanced around and lowered her voice. “Ok, Willie, you’re sworn to secrecy because the school will kill us if they know we talked, but also it’s literally our two teams that know so it’s only fair to tell you. Our last mission before you came, we found a bunch of dead bodies that Doctor Immortal was experimenting on back in the nineties.” She and Julie traded looks, and then Julie looked at the guys on her team. Reggie shrugged carelessly. Luke raised his eyebrows at her. Alex just nodded.</p><p>“We also found those three,” Julie whispered. Willie glanced at Alex, then at Nick, then back at Alex.</p><p>“Yeah, in retrospect I’m really glad Julie and Flynn found us because I think Carrie might have made Reggie cry,” Alex said. Nick covered his mouth, but Julie could have sworn she heard him snort.</p><p>“Ok, wow,” Willie said. “So, Sweden…”</p><p>“I panicked?” Alex said in a squeaky tone of voice.</p><p>“You told him you were from Sweden?” Julie hissed.</p><p>“It was your idea!” Alex protested.</p><p>“So why are you telling me this?” Willie asked Flynn. Julie decided not to keep teasing Alex. She wanted to know this, too.</p><p>“After the news broke that we found bodies, there’s been nothing else,” Flynn said. “I mean, it’s the media, they forget about important things all the time if it’s not sensational enough, but you heard the people those reporters were speculating about. Big names. And they have living families. I don’t even think they <em>released</em> the bodies for burial.”</p><p>“Look, it’s pretty normal for people who die at the hands of supervillains to be buried in private,” Nick said.</p><p>“I looked up one of the families, they <em>still</em> have stuff out looking for information on the guy who died,” Flynn said. “That’s not something you do if you have your closure and are just keeping quiet about it.”</p><p>Julie shifted uncomfortably. It took them a month to release her mother’s body to her family, and that was after another month where they hadn’t even known if she was dead.</p><p>“I’m sure there’s just… paperwork or something,” Nick said.</p><p>“Right,” Flynn said. “Like cover-up paperwork?”</p><p>“So what are we going to do, storm every morgue in the city until we find the one we want?” Nick asked.</p><p>“Well, I think we should be asking questions! Your parents probably know all about it, Nick!” Flynn said, her voice rising.</p><p>“Please don’t fight,” Reggie said softly.</p><p>Flynn and Nick looked at each other, and then relaxed in unison.</p><p>“Sorry,” Nick said.</p><p>“They haven’t even released the living to their families,” Luke muttered. Then he grimaced.</p><p>“Sorry, Reg,” he said, wrapping an arm around Reggie and keeping it there even after Reggie’s face eased.</p><p>Julie lifted her gaze past them just in time to see Mr Morrison approaching.</p><p>“Guys!” she hissed, and they all tried to look like they hadn’t just been discussing something illegally.</p><p>“Julie,” the teacher said. Luke tilted his head back comically far to try and look at the man looming just behind him, and Julie tried to keep her face straight.</p><p>“Yes?” she asked, struggling with her laughter as Reggie, too, attempted to impersonate an owl.</p><p>“Your team has their first mission,” he said. “You’re excused from class.”</p><p>“Wait, now? You’re starting us off on an emergency?” Julie blurted, springing up from the table. Flynn helpfully started gathering Julie’s things for her, making grabby hands at the boys’ stuff until Alex slid his things across to her.</p><p>“Yes, now hurry up and get changed. Your friends can take your things to the office for you.”</p><p>“I was gonna do that anyway,” Flynn muttered as Mr Morrison stalked away and Julie’s teammates stood up as well.</p><p>“We’ve barely practiced anything together,” Alex said. “Julie, you don’t even know how we usually use our powers.”</p><p>“Nobody knows how I use mine,” Reggie commented.</p><p>“Well, that I’m used to working with,” Julie said wryly. “Come on.”</p><p>They changed quickly, with the exception of Reggie whose locker got stuck (they had to ask one of the teachers to reshape the metal just to get his costume out) and met in the briefing office. Julie’s boys were brimming with nervous energy, to the point where all she could think about when watching them was popcorn.</p><p>“A couple powered teenagers held up a convenience store,” Ms Pollack informed them in a bored tone as soon as she entered the room. “One’s got some kind of electrokinesis, one has super-speed.”</p><p>“Who are they? Why aren’t they in school?” Julie asked. Ms Pollack eyed her sternly and didn’t answer. One of the school admins poked his head in a minute later.</p><p>“The van’s ready,” he said. Julie exchanged a look with her teammates and followed him out to the parking lot.</p><p>It was a test every team received, but to have so little prep time? Julie knew the school wouldn't let anything happen to them, but she worried that maybe sending them out so soon was a mistake.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Look at all those shoes dropping. I hope you liked all that cuteness in the start, folks, because as far as I have planned it mostly just gets worse from here. Literally, pick an implication from this chapter, I will be expanding upon it. I'm not sorry about it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Ghost</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Ok,” Julie said as soon as they were settled in the van. “So, this is our first time out, and you still haven’t picked new names –“</p><p>“I don’t see why we can’t use the old ones,” Luke muttered, pouting.</p><p>“Yes, you do, you’re just complaining,” Julie said. His pout increased, and Julie felt a little guilty. He hadn’t asked to have his whole life taken away.</p><p>“How <em>do</em> you usually use your powers?” Julie asked, because she really did want to apologise but they didn’t have time.</p><p>“I mean, working with me is pretty much the same as working with Flynn,” Reggie offered. “Not that I have a lot to offer in fights like this.”</p><p>“Yes, you do,” Julie said firmly, because Flynn always did, and she couldn’t imagine Reggie was any different. “Alex? You can see things on command, right?” They hadn’t had much chance to work with his power in class yet.</p><p>“Yeah, but… it only matters to what we’re doing about half the time,” Alex said.</p><p>“Half is good odds,” Julie said. “Compared to never knowing what’s coming?”</p><p>He almost smiled. Julie looked at Luke.</p><p>“Usually, I just get close enough to touch them,” he said. “I guess you’re not a fan of that.”</p><p>“Not for me,” Julie said. “This is a fight. It’s a good plan, assuming we can get you close and not electrocute you in the process.”</p><p>“Should we have rubber gloves or something?” Reggie asked. “If one’s got electricity powers?”</p><p>That was actually a great idea, but Julie wasn’t sure what they could do about it. The van stopped abruptly before she could think of anything.</p><p>“Masks on, boys,” Luke said with a dry twist to his voice. Nightingale nodded at him and slid open the door.</p><p>At first she wasn’t sure they were in the right place, but then a blurry figure skidded to a stop in front of her, revealing themself to be a kid around Julie’s age holding a duffel bag. Another teenager slipped off their back, looking around nervously.</p><p>Nerves were good. Nerves meant Nightingale had something to work with.</p><p>“Why don’t you put that down?” she sang softly as her teammates gathered at her side. It wouldn’t win her any points for leadership, but if she could finish this quickly…</p><p>When the speedster went to set down the duffel bag, the other one caught their wrist, and the speedster stiffened before glaring at Julie.</p><p>Nightingale swallowed as the second teenager’s head turned and she saw something stuffing their ears. They’d been prepared for <em>her</em>, specifically.</p><p>She hissed Luke’s name as softly as she dared, jerking her head towards them, and kept humming in the hopes it would at least get to the speedster. Luke crept forward, but the teenager with the earplugs glared at him and sent sparks arcing along the sidewalk towards him. Luke scrambled back as the electrokinetic kid advanced, fists clenched and covered in tiny, dancing streaks of lightning.</p><p>“J – Nightingale!” he said. “Do you have a plan?”</p><p>Nightingale broke off her song and murmured to Alex, “Check the future.” She had planned to use her few seconds before the speedster recovered to check her surroundings, see if she had anything to use, but there was a flash of light and she and Reggie had to jump away from each other to let a bolt of electricity through.</p><p>“Confuse them,” Nightingale said. She didn’t have another plan, and it would buy them time. She looked at Alex, who shook his head. Whatever he’d seen hadn’t been useful – or it wasn’t useful yet.</p><p>The speedster had managed to stuff one ear with something while Nightingale was distracted, and their gaze was less easily blurred by her song. Nightingale ran at them, hoping for at least a moment of surprise, and then she blinked and found herself on her back two yards away, wind knocked out of her by the root of a tree that had surpassed the confines of its planter and was starting to warp the concrete around it. She blinked at the sky.</p><p>She scrambled to her feet as soon as the disorientation passed, trying to think of a song to sing. A lullaby? Something sad?</p><p>Nightingale heard Reggie yelp, and saw her teammates dive for cover as streaks of electricity soared wildly through the air. One came for her, and she flattened herself against a wall. It hit a flagpole, and the flag went up in flames. Nightingale’s eyes widened as she heard a creaking noise, and she dove out from under it just before it came crashing down.</p><p>“Nightingale!” her teammates called out. She grimaced, standing up again, and started to belt out the first song she thought of. It was Flynn’s song, but considering she’d almost gotten knocked in the <em>head</em> by a literal <em>burning flag</em>, she thought Flynn would forgive her.</p><p>This time, one piece of pocket lint wasn’t going to protect the speedster. Their eyes glazed over again as Nightingale stalked forward, glaring. She was not dying over some stupid convenience store cash register, and she was <em>not</em> going to mess up her first time officially leading a team!</p><p>The speedster was almost in the back of the van when she heard someone call, “Nightingale, look out!” A moment later, Reggie darted in front of her and planted the flagpole, still-smouldering pieces of flag and all, into a patch of dirt at the base of another tree, just in time for electricity to strike it.</p><p>Reggie turned to look at Nightingale. His cheeks were smudged with soot but had to hurt from the way he was grinning.</p><p>“Finally!” Nightingale heard, and she looked past Reggie to see Luke with his hand wrapped firmly around the remaining villain’s wrist, looking pleased with himself as well. The teenager looked positively limp with whatever emotion Luke had fed them.</p><p>“Lightning rod,” Nightingale said to Reggie.</p><p>He shrugged.</p><p>“It doesn’t actually attract electricity, I think, but you put one in its path and it works out,” he said. “I think. I’m not great at science.”</p><p>Nightingale wasn’t sure she believed that, but that was a conversation for later.</p><p>“Sorry I wasn’t much help,” Alex said to her softly as they set about locking the back of the van up. Nightingale looked him over, then glanced at the two budding supervillains. It was her job, as leader, to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn’t escape their power nullifiers. But also, it was her job as leader to make sure her teammates felt valued.</p><p>“You could watch them,” she offered, and she knew she’d made the right call when Alex gave her a grateful smile.</p><p> </p><p>Alex hadn’t spent a lot of van rides supervising people under nullifiers; their team with Bobby had always traded off riding in the back, but also they’d rarely gotten sent up against other powered people. Alex was pretty sure the school didn’t trust them to handle it, back then. A large part of him wasn’t sure why the school had trusted them to handle it now.</p><p>(It also raised the question of why they’d sent a poorly-trained, incomplete team out to what turned out to be a face-off with Doctor Immortal, but he was… trying not to think about that. He knew from experience that once he started thinking about worst-case scenarios, he stopped being able to tell what made sense and what was an overblown fear from anxiety.)</p><p>Free of Julie’s voice, the speedster was practically bouncing from nerves.</p><p>“He’s gonna kill us,” they whispered. Alex pretended not to hear, curious where this was going.</p><p>“Shut up,” the other teenager hissed, glancing at Alex.</p><p>“You heard the Ghost, powers are for people who don’t get caught –“</p><p>“Shut up!” The electrokinetic looked at Alex again, but Alex was carefully looking at his phone, trying to channel Flynn’s face when she was bored and scrolling through things.</p><p>“Look,” the second teenager said, leaning in close to the speedster. “He gave us the powers, he told us what to do, I’m sure he’s got a plan to help us out. We’ll be ok.”</p><p>Alex tucked his phone away again, and the two jumped apart, looking guilty.</p><p>“Stay a little further apart,” he said to hide the way his mind was racing. Somebody <em>gave</em> them powers? Was that even possible? “We’ve got a lot of space back here.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me trying desperately to figure out what canon thing I could possibly call back to, eventually just deciding the name "ghost" is enough because i just want to get this out there.<br/>Anyway I am. Bad at fight scenes. I don't know why my preferred genres are all so fight-scene heavy, I'm out here writing like. superheroes and high fantasy and stuff all the time in my original stuff. You'd think JATP would be my break from that but here I am writing superhero fight scenes again. I just really said "I only will write things I am Bad at"</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. We Make Each Other Better</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the third time they were sent out, always an emergency after somebody with powers who’d never been to a school, the reporters were showing up in droves, as much to ask about the new team as to learn about the mysterious influx of unknown supervillains.</p><p>Nightingale waded through the crowd, tempted to part them by singing at them but knowing that it really wasn’t fair to use her power on any random person. Red Hex stuck close behind her, towing the unconscious would-be supervillain who’d been trying to rob a bank.</p><p>"Tomorrow Lad, is this supervillain connected in any way to those you've captured previously?" a reporter was asking him, shoving her microphone in his face.</p><p>"Uh..." he said. He looked relieved when he saw Nightingale and Red Hex approach.</p><p>"We're not authorised to release any details right now," Nightingale said, offering Tomorrow Lad a rueful smile. He made a face behind his mask, before helping Red Hex tuck their bank robber into the back. Nightingale climbed in, then paused to do a head count.</p><p>"Where's..." She rolled her eyes. "Prince Charming?"</p><p>Red Hex snickered. Tomorrow Lad could barely hide his grin.</p><p>"I'm with the tellers," Prince Charming said over coms. Nightingale wondered yet again why two out of three of her teammates had let Flynn pick their names. "They're really upset."</p><p>Nightingale understood the impulse, but cleanup wasn't their job.</p><p>"You've got two minutes," she said. "Don't make the van leave without you."</p><p>Exactly one minute and fifty-four seconds later, Prince Charming scrambled through the crowd and into the van. Nightingale tapped on the little window between the back and where her teammates sat.</p><p>"Nice timing," she said. He looked inordinately proud of himself. Nightingale shook her head fondly and closed the window so they could take off their masks if they wanted.</p><p>When they'd dropped off the bank robber - still unconscious, since Nightingale could do that and wanted to work on the song they'd been writing anyway - she climbed into the middle of the van and took off her mask as well.</p><p>"I hate having to say your name in a fight," she told Luke.</p><p>"What?" he said, grinning. "I used up all my good ideas with our first round of superhero names. You don't like Flynn's naming techniques?"</p><p>"You're terrible," Julie said. "The <em>only</em> thing that makes you charming is your power."</p><p>"And my singing," he said.</p><p>Julie wasn't going to admit anything, but he was fun to work with as a musician. She rolled her eyes instead of answering.</p><p>"And you," she said to Alex. "You know you didn't have to go with what Flynn gave you?"</p><p>"I didn't want to upset her," he muttered. Julie was absolutely sure Flynn had expected both boys to turn down her names, but it was sweet that Alex had been concerned, and it was too late to do much about it now.</p><p>"Do you think it was the Ghost again?" Luke asked, pulling his feet up onto the seat.</p><p>"It's not our job to speculate," Julie said automatically. "Anyway, we'd have to know something <em>about</em> the Ghost to be able to tell."</p><p>"Yeah, for all we know he <em>is</em> a ghost," Reggie said.</p><p>"You know ghosts aren't real, right?" Alex asked.</p><p>"We used to think time travel wasn't real!" Reggie said, very pleased with his logic.</p><p>"We didn't travel - ok." Alex made a face at Julie, who giggled.</p><p>"We're rehearsing after school, right?" Luke asked.</p><p>"Is it a rehearsal if we don't have a show?" Reggie said. Luke pointed at him emphatically.</p><p>"Bro, that is an excellent point! Julie," he said quickly, turning to her with puppy-dog eyes. "We should look around for a gig."</p><p>"Look, I'm not comfortable performing," Julie said. "Anyway, we need to keep our schedules free. You never know when school will send us out."</p><p>"Yeah, how come we keep getting all the emergency missions anyway?" Reggie asked. "I bet Flynn's team would be great at this stuff."</p><p>Julie, having been on that team, wasn't so sure. Between Carrie, Flynn, and Nick all having vastly different personalities, it took a lot to get a plan going for them. But she appreciated Reggie's belief in her best friend, and he wasn't wrong. Usually they spread the emergency missions out more than this.</p><p>"I think they're still figuring out the new mission roster now that we have an extra team," Julie said. "So for now, we get all the things that pop up out of nowhere."</p><p>"It'd be nice to know what's coming," Alex muttered. "Especially since I can't do that."</p><p>Julie and Luke exchanged glances. It hadn't taken her long to see how much Alex resented his own inability to make his power work for them, but he'd known exactly when the bank robber would try to take a teller hostage that day. Julie was convinced he just needed more training.</p><p>"You did good today," she said. He managed a weak smile for her.</p><p> </p><p>Carrie scowled as she scrolled through the latest hero news. It was all interviews with Julie, or <em>Nightingale</em>, because she'd been getting all the high-profile, middle-of-the-day emergency calls. Typical.</p><p>"She's barely a leader," Carrie said to Nick. He looked perplexed and leaned over to look at her phone.</p><p>"Oh," he said. "I'm probably going to regret this, but why?"</p><p>Carrie tightened her grip on her phone.</p><p>"She does all the work," Carrie said. "I mean, those boys are just there to make her look good. And sure, it's because their powers are useless, but she could at least try to direct them?"</p><p>Nick sucked in a breath, looking nervous. Carrie raised an eyebrow at him, knowing that was the face he got when he was about to say something she wouldn't like. If he was smart, he'd keep quiet - but then again, this was Nick, and he trusted Carrie more than he probably should.</p><p>"You always got upset when she took charge on our team," he pointed out.</p><p>Carrie glared at him.</p><p>"Because it wasn't her job!" she snapped. "Now it is. And she gets all the credit either way. Perfect Julie, with her perfect history. The media loves her -"</p><p>"The media loves you," Nick pointed out.</p><p>"The <em>school</em> loves her," Carrie continued. Nick didn't have an argument for that one. "And she doesn't have to try, because her mom was perfect before her."</p><p>Nick, with his own set of two perfect hero parents, was wise enough not to comment. Carrie breathed out through her nose, looking back at the news feed.</p><p>The next article compared Julie to her mother, the great Dahlia herself. Carrie slammed her phone down on the table and tried to blink away the angry tears.</p><p>"Not like her mom being perfect could stop her from getting killed," she muttered.</p><p>"Carrie," Nick said. "You don't mean that."</p><p>"Don't I?" Carrie met his eyes, daring him to challenge her. He looked away.</p><p>"You don't have to be what everybody thinks you are," he said.</p><p>"Grow up, Nick, you know as well as I do, the only thing that matters in this life is what people think you are," Carrie said. "That's all that keeps us from being supervillains if we make the wrong move." She got up and stalked off, not eager to spend the rest of lunch being told off for being right.</p><p> </p><p>Julie closed her locker and jumped when she saw Luke had been hiding behind the door.</p><p>"Don't you have class to get to?" she asked.</p><p>"It's the same as yours," Luke pointed out, which Julie couldn't argue with no matter how much she wanted to on principle.</p><p>"Ok, so why not wait for me there?" she said as they started walking.</p><p>“Look, I just wanted to say…” Luke shrugged sheepishly. “I know I’m not always easy to work with, you know, I care too much about music and not enough about being a hero, but you – you make me better at both.”</p><p>Julie couldn’t help the fond smile that settled on her face.</p><p>“I think we make each other better,” she said. Luke smiled at her in return.</p><p>"Uh, so I was gonna ask about rehearsals," he said suddenly, tearing his eyes away from Julie. Julie looked straight ahead. Had she been staring at Luke? That was embarrassing.</p><p>"You were going to ask about shows," Julie predicted.</p><p>"Maybe," Luke said. "Julie, you'd <em>kill</em> it onstage. We both know it."</p><p>"It's just not my thing," Julie said. "And a lot of the songs we've been writing, I've used as a hero. If we start debuting songs as a band, it would tip people off about our identities."</p><p>"So we just gotta write more songs," Luke said. "And we debut them first as a band, so our hero selves could have heard them."</p><p>Julie didn't have any new arguments, but she wasn't about to give in. She looked at Luke, feeling a little bad for constantly shutting him down.</p><p>"Ok," he said. "I'll back off for now. But if you change your mind -"</p><p>"I won't!" Julie said. "But you would be the first to know."</p><p> </p><p>Nick found Willie on the steps of the school when almost everybody had gone home. He was practicing a new trick on his skateboard, one he'd been trying for a month to get right.</p><p>"That was pretty good," Nick said as Willie landed the jump. Willie nearly tripped, and he stopped himself just in time.</p><p>"How long have you been there?" he asked.</p><p>"Just saw the last one,"  Nick said. "It's way better than when you started."</p><p>"Thanks," Willie said. "Shouldn't you be headed home by now?"</p><p>"My parents are defending a city from a giant robot," Nick said, sitting on the steps. Willie sat beside him, flinging himself down with an abandon Nick envied. "So I am waiting for my ride."</p><p>"Well, I'd offer to let you come home with me, but I think we both know Caleb's keeping me waiting for a little," Willie said. "Fuego's got something going on, and the man himself is running rehearsals at the club for another hour."</p><p>Nick grimaced. For all Willie's many adoptive siblings, only Fuego could actually drive, and none of them particularly got along with Willie. If Caleb couldn't pick him up, it was probably a good thing that none of the others could come, either.</p><p>"Do you think I'm a good leader?" Nick asked. He regretted it immediately. Willie looked like he'd stepped on a puppy.</p><p>"Dude! Yeah," Willie said. "Of course you are."</p><p>"Flynn doesn't listen to me," Nick said. "Carrie does what she wants. I feel like I can't even help you get used to school."</p><p>"Man, you've been so helpful," Willie said. "Hey, what brought this up?"</p><p>"Carrie and I were just... talking about what makes a good leader," Nick said.</p><p>"Uh-huh," Willie said. "Not that I know Carrie <em>that</em> well, but she was complaining about Julie, wasn't she?"</p><p>Nick avoided Willie's gaze, which unfortunately seemed to be the only confirmation he needed. Willie sighed and slung an arm around Nick's shoulders, knocking their heads together.</p><p>"You're in school for a reason, Nick," he said. "You're not supposed to know everything."</p><p>"You are if you have perfect hero parents," Nick said flatly. "And I've been enough of a disappointment already."</p><p>Willie didn't respond to that. Nick hadn't expected him to. They both knew how much of a failure Nick really was.</p><p>"Can I ask you something?" Willie said. "I mean - it's none of my business. But you and Carrie..."</p><p>"People think they know us," Nick said simply. Willie's fingers curled around the fabric of Nick's sleeve, and he tugged Nick close again.</p><p>"I get that," Willie said.</p><p>"Show me that trick?" Nick requested. "I think you'll get it soon."</p><p>Willie laughed and scrambled up, eager to show off.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry this took me forever, life has been wild lately. On the bright side, it was a good wild and I used a lot of that time to plot out this entire story. Yes, it does say 120 chapters now. No, I will not apologise.<br/>I thought we could use a bit of team bonding, some Juke, some Carrie angst... a little splash of Nick backstory for you. Gotta lay that groundwork, after all.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. That's Bobby</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"Today, we'll be talking about one of the most permanent methods of neutralizing a villain: unmasking."</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie yawned. It was way too early in the morning for the kind of ethical debate the teacher was expecting. Anyway, he didn't get the big deal. Every powered person was on file with the government, it wasn't like a hero or villain getting unmasked really </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> anything, right?</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, no," Julie murmured. Reggie looked over at Luke, who had that particular kicked-puppy expression that meant somebody was upset.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"What's wrong?" Alex asked. Julie just sank low in her chair, tugging her hat over her eyes as she fixed her gaze on Flynn and Willie's table.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"Why is everybody -" Luke began, whipping his head around to look towards Flynn's table as well.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"A case study," their teacher announced. "One you should all know. It was in the news only a couple years ago."</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>The screen at the front of the class turned on and all Reggie's confusion was replaced by new, different confusion.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"That's Bobby," Luke announced, gaping at the adult man in the picture.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Mrs Byrne stared at him.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“That is the Phantom,” she said slowly. “Unmasked two years ago and revealed to be Trevor Wilson.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“No, that’s definitely Bobby,” Luke insisted. Reggie stared at the screen, mystified. Why would everybody call him Trevor? Did Bobby have a twin? A clone? Had he lost his memory and been manipulated by a supervillain?</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“He lied to people enough already,” Carrie snapped. Reggie jumped, whipping his head around to look at her when she slammed her hands on her desk and stood up. “Tell them how he pretended to be a hero, Mrs Byrne, everybody loves talking about that.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, you said his name was Trevor </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wilson</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Alex said slowly.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Carrie, if you can’t be civil -”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Then you won’t be surprised,” Carrie snapped. “Don’t worry, I’m on my way to the office.” She swung her bag over her shoulder and marched out of the room.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful,” Julie muttered, sinking even lower in her seat.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s going on with her?” Reggie asked Julie.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Trevor Wilson is Carrie’s dad,” Julie said. “That’s really your friend Bobby?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“It sure looks like him,” Alex said.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to talk to Carrie,” Luke said, standing up and hurrying out of the classroom.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Luke Patterson!” Mrs Byrne called sharply, but Luke didn’t even look at her. Alex, Reggie, and Julie exchanged looks. Reggie was itching to jump up and run after Luke.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Go,” Julie said. “I think I can talk her into letting it go.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Julie,” Alex said, scrambling out of his seat.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, thank you,” Reggie said, impulsively hugging her before he ran after his friends and Carrie.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Luke had caught up to Carrie at the end of the hall. She tried to duck around him as Reggie and Alex hurried closer, but her heel broke and she stumbled. Carrie let out a shriek of frustration and yanked her shoes off.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want?” she snapped at Luke as Reggie and Alex caught up to them. “I’ve heard everything before.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Your dad was our teammate,” Luke said.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“If he was secretly this guy Bobby, I think I would know,” Carrie said sulkily. Luke frowned, looking her over with that face that meant he was sensing something really bad in her feelings.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t believe that,” he said.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Get out of my head,” Carrie snapped. She wrapped her hand around Luke’s wrist. “Or I’ll make you stay out.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie swallowed, remembering what Julie and Flynn had told them about Carrie’s powers, but Luke just looked down at her hand, then back into her eyes.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I just want to know what happened,” he said.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Carrie dug her nails into Luke’s wrist. He hissed, and Reggie started forward, but Carrie let Luke go.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Everybody does, Luke, you’re not special,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a disciplinary appointment with Principal Lessa, again.” She stalked off, shoes in one hand and bag over the other shoulder, feet silent on the linoleum.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <span>So</span>
  <span> you really didn’t know about Carrie’s dad?” came Nick’s voice from behind them. Reggie and Alex both turned towards him, leaving Luke still staring after Carrie.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Alex said. He added bitterly, “We don’t really know anything about the past twenty-five years.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Nick nodded slowly, sliding his hands into his pockets and hunching his shoulders.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, I can’t tell you everything I know about Carrie’s dad,” Nick said. “Carrie wouldn’t want me to. But I can tell you the public stuff, and the real things behind it.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You’d think that would be the same thing,” Reggie said. He’d never understood why they had to hide so much. Secret identities, sure, but the details of missions? If the bad guys were in jail, what was left to hide?</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, having grown up with two pretty famous heroes for parents, I can promise you it isn’t,” Nick said. “Carrie and I – the media has to think you’re perfect, if they know your parents at all. I’m pretty obviously my parents’ kid, and Carrie hasn’t had a real secret identity since the truth about her dad came out. So she’s easy to understand, if you know where she’s coming from. She’s mean, maybe, but she’s not evil.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“But what happened to Bobby?” Reggie asked.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Nick sighed, gesturing for them to step into the gap between lockers as the bell rang and other students started to leave their classes.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Nobody knows why he did it, or when he decided to do it, exactly,” Nick said. “I don’t think anybody even knew his name was Bobby. Everything I knew – everything Carrie always said was that he was from a school in New York, he moved here in ’97, he’d been pen pals with Julie’s mom forever.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Julie’s mom knew Bobby?” Luke asked, finally tearing his eyes away.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“She went here, too,” Nick said. Alex, Luke, and Reggie exchanged glances. If Bobby had known her, chances were they did, too. “I guess they probably had class together sometimes.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“So she helped him pretend to be Trevor Wilson? I thought Julie’s mom was a hero,” Reggie said.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“She was better than my parents,” Nick said. “Not that they’d admit it. Look, she didn’t know about him being a supervillain, either, considering when she found out –“</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He broke off, looking guilty.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Alex asked.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You should ask Julie,” Nick said reluctantly. “I… You can find that on the internet, everybody knows how Trevor Wilson was unmasked, but it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>probably </span>
  </em>
  <span>best if you get the story from one of the people who was there. A lot of gossip rags had a lot of talk about it, and that’s... not something you want to run into.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Where is Julie?” Reggie asked, craning his neck to look down the </span>
  <span>newly-full</span>
  <span> hallway. He hadn’t seen her leave the classroom.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Byrne kept her after,” Nick said. “She wasn’t exactly happy that so many people ran out of class.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You left,” Alex observed. Nick gave him a wry smile.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Honestly, I could do anything I like at this school,” he said, sounding like that was the worst thing he could think of. “Like I said. People like my parents.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“We should talk to Julie, she was really upset,” Luke said. “Did she know Bobby, too? Trevor?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Julie and Carrie grew up together,” Nick said. “Best friends, for a long time.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie honestly had trouble picturing that.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Guys? What are you – </span>
  <span>oh.</span>
  <span> Hi, Nick,” Julie said. “Hey...” She finger-gunned at him and smiled awkwardly. Her eyes were red like she’d been crying.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Julie,” Nick said. Reggie made eye contact with Alex, who shrugged at him. Luke wrinkled his nose as he looked between Nick and Julie.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“So Julie, we had some questions,” Luke said loudly.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I should go,” Nick said immediately.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, go – go class! Go to class! Have a good time!” Julie stammered as Nick left them. When he was </span>
  <span>gone,</span>
  <span> she closed her eyes and sucked in a breath through her teeth.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Do I have any chance of making you forget that?” she asked.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Somebody’s got a crush,” Luke teased.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop,” Julie said. She adjusted her grip on her school things and looked between the three of them. “You said you had questions?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Luke asked. “With Bobby. Why...”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Julie took a deep breath.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Nobody ever knew he was really Bobby,” she said.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Nobody ever recognised him?” Reggie asked. “I mean, this is where we all grew up.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Julie could only shrug at him.</span>
  <span> Reggie understood - it wasn't like he expected Julie to have all the answers, even if she was one of the smartest people he knew - but he couldn't stop himself from frowning. How could people just <em>forget</em> Bobby?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe a power, maybe more people knew than I think, who knows?” she said. “Trevor had a lot of secrets. He was this hero, Lightshow, and he was big. As big as my mom, or Nick’s parents. Then... everybody found out he was the Phantom, too.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What did he do?” Alex asked.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>The bell rang.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“We should get to class,” Julie said.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Julie, please,” Luke said. “What happened?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“He mostly hated the system, you know, attacking administrative buildings for superheroes, making it hard for people to do their jobs,” Julie said. “He went after this civilian club, though. A lot of people died.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“And that’s why they unmasked him?” Alex asked.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“My mom did,” Julie said. Reggie opened his mouth, suddenly boiling over with questions - was that why she and Carrie didn't like each other? - but Julie started to walk away. “Come on, you’ve missed enough class already.”</span>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh, no, more plot! More angst!<br/>(You may wonder, is it not a terrible thing for a teacher to do to use a student's father as a case study, especially when it touches on the trauma of multiple students? Yes, yes it is.)<br/>Anyway, I welcome all theories, screaming, and questions in the comments, please share with me your thoughts I crave making people ponder things.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Hot Dog</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So have they given you any pamphlets yet?” Willie asked Alex as he sat down next to him at lunch. “What to do when your best friend turns out to be a supervillain?”</p><p>“How much got out about that?” Alex asked him quietly. He didn’t want to get in trouble for blowing their cover on top of everything else.</p><p>“Byrne played it off pretty well, and I honestly don’t think most people care,” Willie said. “Not when they could gossip about Carrie or Julie. But since I know where you’re from...”</p><p>“Probably pretty easy to put together,” Alex finished. Willie grinned and shrugged at him.</p><p>“It really wasn’t subtle,” he said. “Seriously, are you ok?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m...” Alex trailed off as Luke and Reggie arrived. He couldn’t say he was fine, not now; Luke would call him out in an instant. He sighed.</p><p>“I just wish I knew what happened,” he said. “I’ve been trying to find out what changed. What could have turned Bobby evil?”</p><p>Willie looked like he was about to say something, but with a glance at Luke and Reggie he shook his head.</p><p>“Look, I don’t know how to help you see the past exactly, but I know a thing or two about power coaching. I have a few things we could try?”</p><p>Alex took a minute to remember how to form words. That was maybe the sweetest offer anybody had ever had for him. Usually they just told him to try harder.</p><p>“Yeah, that’d be great,” Alex said. He picked up his lunch – a lukewarm school hot dog that he’d been putting off eating even though he knew it would only be worse the longer it went – and took a bite.</p><p>“To be honest, I’m just wondering if you can see a future with me,” Willie said. Alex choked.</p><p>As he sputtered, with Reggie ineffectively slapping him on the back, Willie looked both mortified and amused.</p><p>“Are you trying to kill me?” Alex asked through a sore throat when his windpipe cleared.</p><p>“Sorry, Hot Dog, I swear I don’t want you dead,” Willie said with a grin. “You’re too cute to die early.”</p><p>Alex was pretty sure his face was bright red, and not just because of his near-death experience. He stared wide-eyed at Reggie, who widened his eyes in return and made a little hand gesture that lay somewhere between “shoo” and a thumbs-up. Luke, across the table, was sitting with his chin propped in one hand and a grin on his face. Alex was acutely aware of the fact that Julie and Nick were approaching.</p><p>“Thanks,” Alex choked out. “Uh, we could – we could meet after school?”</p><p>Julie reached the table as he said this, and she raised her eyebrows at him as she sat next to Luke.</p><p>“Sure,” Willie said with a smug smile, stealing one of Alex’s potato chips. As Nick sat down next to Willie, Willie snatched a second chip and offered it to Nick.</p><p>“Why does Alex look like somebody doused him with food colouring?” Flynn asked as she tossed her lunchbag down on the table, sitting down and leaning her head against Julie’s shoulder a second later. Alex lowered his head slowly onto the table and sighed.</p><p>Thankfully, with the exception of a few gleeful smirks from Luke the day passed without further attempts on Alex’s life. After school, Alex found Willie on the steps of the school, skateboard under his arm.</p><p>“So,” Alex said. “Training.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Willie said. He leaned against the railings on the stairs. “So what have you been trying in power training?”</p><p>“Oh, you know, focus. Think about what you want to see.” Alex had heard the same few pieces of advice since the nineties. Nobody seemed to know what to do with him, and he was pretty sure his new teachers were close to giving up the way his old teachers had.</p><p>“So forcing it?” Willie asked. Alex shrugged. He hadn’t thought of it that way, but Willie wasn’t wrong. Alex just wanted his power to work.</p><p>“What do you think about?” Willie asked. “When you’re trying to see the future.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Alex said. “The future?”</p><p>“Anything in particular?” Willie asked. He set his board down, idly pushing it around with one foot at the top of the stairs, resting his weight on the other foot, one step lower.</p><p>“No?” Alex said. “How could I? It’s the future! I don’t know what’s in it. That’s why I look! But anything could happen. We could win the fight, lose the fight, somebody could <em>die</em> for all I know, and how am I supposed to look for anything specific in all of that?”</p><p>Willie eyed him with a smile.</p><p>“You have a lot of questions, don’t you, Hot Dog?” he said.</p><p>“Ok, is that just something you’re going to call me now, because I have some notes –“ Alex started. Willie raised his eyebrows expectantly, and Alex realised that Willie was <em>hoping</em> to fluster him.</p><p>This was… new.</p><p>“Never mind,” he said. “Uh, superpowers.”</p><p>“Right,” Willie said, ducking his head. “So don’t think about an outcome you want to check for. Think about your question.”</p><p>“Willie, I’ve tried for <em>years</em>, this won’t –“</p><p>Willie held up a hand.</p><p>“If it doesn’t work, nothing bad happens,” he said. “We’ll be at the same place we started from. But will you try it? For me?”</p><p>Alex swallowed.</p><p>“What – what question should I ask?” he said.</p><p>“You were full of them a minute ago,” Willie said. “What’s something you really want to know?”</p><p>Alex looked at this boy, who openly flirted with him and offered to help him where everybody else, even his friends, thought it was a lost cause. This boy with his pretty face who’d told him a secret when they first met, and who Alex had given some of his secrets to.</p><p>He wanted to know if they could have something together.</p><p>Well, that was a safe enough question as long as Willie didn’t ask what he’d thought of.</p><p>He focused on the thought, not the future but just the question. Nothing happened.</p><p>“I really don’t think it’ll work,” Alex said. “Like you said, I have a lot of questions.”</p><p>“Hey, something triggers the future vision, right?” Willie said.</p><p>“I think it’s random,” Alex admitted.</p><p>“What does it feel like?” Willie said. Alex shook his head, unable to explain it. It was a sense nobody else had. It would be like describing smell, or sight, or hearing.</p><p>Willie took his hand, and Alex stared down at their fingers, laying on top of each other. What did he do now? Why did Willie do that? Was Alex supposed to do something?</p><p>“Is it soft?” Willie asked. He squeezed Alex’s hand. “Harsh?”</p><p>“Dizzy,” Alex managed to say. “Like when you stand up too fast.” He looked up from their joined hands to see Willie grinning at him.</p><p>“It’s like how I imagine walking through a freeway tunnel would be,” Alex said. “Lots of wind and nowhere to go.”</p><p>“Imagine how that feels,” Willie said, letting go of Alex’s hand. “And try again.”</p><p>Alex swallowed, missing the warmth of Willie’s hand. It would be weird to ask if Willie could hold his hand, though, probably. He thought about his question again.</p><p>
  <em>“Wait, you can dance?” said the person beside Alex. Future-Alex knew who it was. Now-Alex had no time to learn because Willie was gleefully jumping and turning in front of him, showing off his intricate footwork and a magnetic stage presence even though they were in what looked like a child’s bedroom.</em>
</p><p>Alex came out of it with a gasp.</p><p>“I did that,” he said.</p><p>“Yeah?” Willie said eagerly.</p><p>“I – Dude, I <em>did that</em>! You’re amazing!” Alex wanted to hug him. That was probably also weird.</p><p>“You’re amazing, I just know how this kind of coaching goes,” Willie said. “But the seeing the future, man, that’s all you.”</p><p>Alex didn’t believe him, but it was sweet of Willie to say.</p><p>His pocket started to buzz, and he jumped.</p><p>“Should probably pick up your phone,” Willie said. “I bet Julie’s dad is calling.”</p><p>“Right,” Alex said. He hadn’t known exactly what he and Willie would be doing, or how long it would be, so Ray was probably following up on Julie’s vague message. “Could we –“</p><p>“Yeah, sure!” Willie said. A second later, he winced. “Or… not. The family beckons.”</p><p>Alex frowned, not sure what that meant.</p><p>“One of my adoptive siblings is a telepath, so Caleb kind of uses her as a group chat,” Willie said. “I’ve got to get home now if I don’t want to walk. Sorry.”</p><p>“It’s ok,” Alex said. “Really. You helped me a lot already.”</p><p>Willie’s grin was ridiculously bright, like looking directly at a light that had just switched on in a dark room.</p><p>“Take care, Hot Dog,” he said. Alex considered protesting the name, but it was starting to grow on him.</p><p>Back at the Molinas’ house, Alex tried to use his power again. For the future, it worked – he saw snatches of Reggie graduating school, their band performing with Julie onstage, and one really weird moment of Flynn and Carrie holding hands that he resolved to keep to himself on pain of death, since he was sure death was what faced him if either girl found out about that early.</p><p>But he still couldn’t see the past, which was where all his real questions lay.</p><p>“Hey, Alex?”</p><p>He looked up to see Reggie poking his head in the doorway.</p><p>“You’ve been at this for hours,” Reggie said. “I mean, it’s cool that you and Willie figured your power out! But also, it’s dinner time?”</p><p>“Sorry,” Alex said. “I’ll be out in a second.”</p><p>“What are you looking for?” Reggie asked.</p><p>Alex sighed. He probably wasn’t going to get another try in before he had to eat, so he stood up.</p><p>“The past,” he said. “I want to know what happened to Bobby.”</p><p>“But you’ve never seen the past,” Reggie said.</p><p>“Yeah, I know,” Alex said, more harshly than he meant to. Reggie flinched, and Alex sighed.</p><p>“Sorry,” he said. “That wasn’t fair. I’m just… tired.”</p><p>“Using your power takes energy,” Reggie said, nodding sagely, which was possibly the funniest advice he’d ever given on power considering if he’d ever used his power they had literally never noticed a difference in him. “Which is why you should come eat!”</p><p>“All right, I’m coming,” Alex said, resolving to ask Willie for help again tomorrow. He’d already been so helpful, surely he’d have some other tips.</p><p>When Alex asked him, though, Willie looked doubtful.</p><p>“I mean, maybe,” Willie said finally. “Man, if your powers don’t work that way there’s no forcing it. And the past is a lot easier to learn about, right?”</p><p>“Who is going to tell me why Bobby went bad? Who would even know?” Alex said. “And I don’t know what happened to my sister, none of us know what happened with our families, we don’t even know much about the <em>internet</em>! There’s so many gaps to fill in, and that’s a lot more important than knowing Flynn and Carrie are going to be friends or something.”</p><p>Willie’s eyes widened, and Alex realised what he’d just blurted out.</p><p>“Please never say anything about this to them,” he said quickly.</p><p>“Right,” Willie said. “Yeah, I don’t want them to kill me for that. That’ll be our secret.”</p><p>Then he tilted his head, looking confused.</p><p>“What was the question that let you find out about that?” he asked.</p><p>“I was wondering about if we’d have friends in the future! If it was just going to be us tagging along with Julie forever, or…” Alex trailed off, having admitted way more than he wanted to. Willie just smiled.</p><p>“I get that,” he said. “So do you think that means you’ll be friends with Flynn, or Carrie, or both?”</p><p>“The way things are right now, Flynn seems a <em>lot</em> more likely,” Alex said. “Look, you’re sure you don’t have any ideas about how I could see the past?”</p><p>Willie shook his head regretfully.</p><p>“Great,” Alex said. “At this point, I might as well ask the Ghost.”</p><p>He was only half-joking.</p><p>“The – no!”</p><p>Alex took a step back at Willie’s vehemence. A couple of passing students sent them a curious glance, but most were preoccupied with getting to class before the warning bell rang.</p><p>“Sorry,” Willie said. “Look, you’re the one who’s been going up against people who deal with the Ghost. You know this is bad news.”</p><p>“Wait, what do you know about the Ghost?” Alex asked.</p><p>“He…” Willie faltered and looked away, wrapping his arms around his stomach. It was maybe the first time Alex had seen Willie drop his cheerful demeanour completely.</p><p>“Are you ok?” Alex asked.</p><p>“Look, if you want this…” Willie visibly swallowed, and met Alex’s gaze again. “If you really want to have a new power, I can hook you up. My guardian, Caleb, he – you have to swear not to tell anyone.”</p><p>“I swear,” Alex said quietly.</p><p>“Ok,” Willie said. “Ok. Caleb can do it. I – you don’t want to go to the Ghost. With Caleb, you have to have connections, but I think I can convince him. But with the Ghost, you owe him favours, and as you’ve probably noticed… That’s pretty dangerous.”</p><p>Alex swallowed. From what little Willie had said about Caleb, he didn’t sound like a great parental figure. But he was trusted in the superhero community, and the last thing Alex needed was to make a deal with a supervillain when it could get out and mess things up for Luke and Reggie. He already had one teammate who’d gone bad, and Alex didn’t need to be the second.</p><p>“Ok,” he said. “If you’re willing to get Caleb to talk to me, I would really appreciate that.”</p><p>Willie still looked nervous, but he let his arms hang loosely at his side once more.</p><p>“Ok,” he said. “I’ll talk to him.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It took me a million years but here I am, back again! Did I want to have this out on Valentine's Day? Yes. Did I spend today working on this and not working on the other fic I want to start releasing soon because I want to get done with my other series? Also yes. Anyway at least you all have this beautiful Willex nonsense and some ominous vibes.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. You've Got a Crush</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alex looked nervous when he joined the rest of them after school. This wasn’t unusual, but Reggie found himself looking Alex over closely. Something was weird. The way he’d stuffed his hands in his pockets, the way he wasn’t looking at anyone’s face, the way he had one shoulder pulled up but not the other. Reggie looked over at Luke, who was frowning. That confirmed it: something was up with Alex.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Luke asked. Julie locked her eyes on Alex as well, now, and Reggie tried not to look too worried. Sometimes, if everyone was too intense with their concern, Alex refused to say anything, and with both Luke and Julie freaking out it was probably good if Reggie tried to stay calm.</p><p>Tried, anyway. Alex had been a bundle of particularly touchy nerves ever since they woke up in 2020, but this was like he was all nerve. Reggie <em>really</em> didn’t like that.</p><p>“I’m fine,” he said.</p><p>“Dude…” Luke said.</p><p>“Later, ok?” Alex said.</p><p>“Is this about the power thing?” Reggie piped up. Alex looked at him sharply, and Reggie realised that maybe hadn’t been the best example of backing off.</p><p>“Maybe,” he said. “Look, just… Give me a little bit, ok?”</p><p>Reggie glanced at Julie and Luke. Julie frowned but relaxed her posture. Luke looked ready to press further, but he just huffed in annoyance and looked away. Reggie kept an eye on Alex the whole way home. Alex had made them promise to wait, and just that, and Reggie intended to make sure Alex opened up eventually.</p><p>Luke dragged them out to the studio, all but Julie, who insisted that her homework was more important and disappeared into her room. Reggie pouted for a minute, sad that Julie wasn’t going to play or sing with them, but at least it meant it was a room full of people Alex had known since childhood.</p><p>“So are you going to tell us what’s up?” he asked while they warmed up. Alex eyed Reggie warily. Luke’s scales slowed to a stop, and he looked over at Alex as well.</p><p>“You really aren’t going to like this,” Alex said.</p><p>“What happened?” Luke asked immediately, setting his guitar aside. That was how Reggie knew it was <em>really</em> serious.</p><p>“Just… I talked to Willie, about maybe working on my power,” Alex said. “Seeing the past, you know.”</p><p>“What did you – Did you see something? Something bad?” Luke asked, but Alex shook his head before Luke was even finished.</p><p>“He didn’t know how to help,” Alex said. “Except, I said – look, it was a stupid joke, really. I was frustrated.”</p><p>“Alex, what did you say?” Luke asked.</p><p>“I said I might as well ask the Ghost for help,” Alex muttered. Reggie accidentally sent a loud <em>twang</em> on his bass through the studio. Luke jumped up.</p><p>“Dude! That’s crazy! You can’t go to the <em>Ghost</em>, whoever they are, the Ghost is a supervillain! Like, sends people out to rob banks!”</p><p>“I know,” Alex said quickly. “I know. And that’s basically what Willie said. But he also said that he knew somebody else who can give people powers.”</p><p>Reggie swallowed. How many times had he wished he could just trade in his mysterious, strong power for one he could understand and use? How often had he wished to just walk into a store, slap his superpower down on the counter, and ask for a refund? He’d put off the question lately, even with the Ghost, because at least the Ghost was a supervillain. The Ghost was evil, right? And Reggie wasn’t. Easy.</p><p>But if somebody else could do that, too – well, that was too much like hope.</p><p>“What did he say?” Reggie said through a dry throat. Luke glanced over at him, looking distracted in that way he got when there was too much emotion in the room for him to figure it all out.</p><p>“His guardian can do it,” Alex said. “And that he can probably get me in.”</p><p>“When?” Reggie asked. “I mean, are you going to do it?”</p><p>“I don’t even know if he’ll do it,” Alex said. “I mean, Willie just said he’d talk to Caleb, he didn’t –“</p><p>As if on cue, Alex’s phone made a dinging noise. Alex fumbled in his fanny pack and pulled it out.</p><p>“Caleb can meet me tonight,” he said after a moment.</p><p>“Oh, well, that’s convenient!” Reggie said brightly.</p><p>“So… are you going?” Luke asked.</p><p>“I don’t – I don’t know,” Alex said. “I feel like I shouldn’t go alone. I mean, I trust Willie! But he seemed… He seemed a little worried. I think maybe this guy Caleb is in some shady stuff even if he’s ok, and it’s probably bad if anybody figures out I’ve gone, and I shouldn’t ask anybody to come with because then you’d be in trouble…”</p><p>“Dude, if you’re going, we’re going,” Luke said immediately. “Come on. We’re a band. A team.”</p><p>“Do you think we should ask Julie to come?” Reggie asked.</p><p>“No, we shouldn’t – I mean, being a hero really matters to her. If something does go wrong, I don’t want to mess things up for her.” Alex rubbed his arm nervously. “I don’t want to make you guys come.”</p><p>“Dude,” Reggie said. “Do you want to do this?”</p><p>Alex looked between them.</p><p>“I don’t know if I’ll do anything about the powers,” he said quietly. “But I want to know what I could do.”</p><p>“Then we go,” Luke said.</p><p>“We should tell Ray where we’re going,” Reggie said.</p><p>“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Alex said reluctantly.</p><p>“Nah, man, we should totally tell him,” Luke said eagerly. “That you’re going to go hang out with a cute boy, and we’re your backup.”</p><p>Alex flushed.</p><p>“I don’t – what? No, it’s not like that,” Alex said.</p><p>“Well, Willie’s gonna be disappointed,” Reggie said eagerly. “He was flirting with you pretty hard.”</p><p>“No, he wasn’t,” Alex said reflexively.</p><p>“<em>Dude,</em>” Reggie and Luke said at the same time.</p><p>“We were both there at lunch the other day, and Willie was definitely flirting with you,” Luke said. “You’ve got a crush on Willie, don’t you?”</p><p>“I… Yeah,” Alex said. “Can we just…”</p><p>“Go and pretend we’re not totally being your wingmen?” Luke asked. Alex rubbed his face, looking exhausted.</p><p>“Sure,” he said. “Yeah. That sounds good.”</p><p>“Hey, didn’t Willie say his guardian runs a nightclub?” Reggie asked. “Maybe he needs a band sometimes.”</p><p>“Let’s… see what Caleb’s like first,” Alex said. Luke looked excited about Reggie’s suggestion, but he made a face at Reggie. Reggie supposed that maybe they wanted to tread carefully around Alex’s crush’s parental figure, for now.</p><p>Ray seemed a little sceptical of the boys’ plan, since he didn’t know Caleb and hadn’t really talked to Willie much, but he offered to drive them to the club, which was cool. Alex looked ready to bolt, though, so Luke and Reggie convinced Ray they could bus over.</p><p>Willie met them outside the club with his usual wide smile. He’d pulled his hair back and was wearing a suit jacket and dress shirt, though both hung loosely over shorts and his usual sneakers.</p><p>Alex stopped short for a second, glancing down at himself like he was wondering if he should have dressed up. Luke and Reggie each grabbed an arm and hauled him forward.</p><p>“Hey, Hot Dog. I see you brought the whole party,” Willie said.</p><p>“Uh, yeah,” Alex said. He gestured feebly at his friends. Reggie waved at Willie, who sent a finger-gun back at him. “Is – Is that ok?”</p><p>“No, yeah, totally,” Willie said. Luke leaned around behind Alex and close to Reggie.</p><p>“I think he was hoping this would be a date,” Luke whispered. Alex slapped Luke’s hand. Reggie snickered.</p><p>“Right! So,” Willie said, clapping his hands together. He jerked both thumbs towards the door. “You wanna go meet Caleb?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Alex said.</p><p>“Yeah!” Reggie said eagerly, because there was a really fancily-dressed couple approaching and if everybody here was wearing outfits that sparkly and cool he <em>really</em> wanted to see what the club was like.</p><p>Willie led them inside and down a grand staircase to a reserved table.</p><p>“So, where’s Caleb?” Alex asked.</p><p>“He won’t come out until after the show,” Willie said. “He takes this stuff really seriously.”</p><p>“Ok,” Alex said. He settled back in his chair, still looking antsy. Reggie raised his eyebrows as Willie reached over and touched Alex’s hand.</p><p>“It’s ok,” Willie said. “He’s… kind of a lot. But he’s cool.”</p><p>As Alex relaxed, gazing into Willie’s eyes, Reggie elbowed Luke. Luke elbowed Reggie. They shared an incredulous, this-is-really-happening glance, and then the lights started to dim.</p><p>“Oh, dude, here we go,” Willie said eagerly, leaning forward in his seat.</p><p> </p><p>Julie got the call partway through her tactics homework. But when she went to get the rest of her team, her dad told her they’d gone out. He called <em>Tía</em> Victoria to watch Carlos and drove Julie back to the school, since the school would call the boys’ phones anyway.</p><p>When Julie got there, nobody else was waiting by the van but the driver. She swallowed, knowing that the boys probably would take a little more time to get there, and went to change.</p><p>There was still no sign of the boys when she got back. Instead, Carrie was there, as was Nick, and Nightingale could see Flynn’s mom’s car pulling in.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” Nightingale asked. The Queen put on her mask, tossed her hair haughtily, and smiled coldly at her.</p><p>“Your job, apparently,” she said. “That’s what happens when your team doesn’t show up. Not that I can blame them. It’s hard to care about your team when you have such a terrible leader.”</p><p>“They’re coming!” Nightingale snapped.</p><p>“I heard they didn’t even answer their phones,” the Queen said. “Topflight? Are you ready?”</p><p>With both his mask and a sheepish look on his face, Topflight nudged past Nightingale into the van. Flynn stopped at her side.</p><p>“What’s going on, why are we both here?” Flynn asked.</p><p>“Somebody’s got the team she deserves,” the Queen said. “Unreliable.”</p><p>“Watch it, Carrie,” Flynn snapped. The Queen wagged a finger.</p><p>“Names, Flynn,” she said sweetly before getting into the van.</p><p>“I’m going to kill her,” Flynn said. “We can’t even go! Where’s –“</p><p>Willie teleported in. Nightingale bit down hard on her anger. He’d answered the phone, that was all. He’d answered the phone, and… her team hadn’t. She’d thought her dad said they’d gone to hang out with Willie, but maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe the guys hadn’t known about the call.</p><p>“Julie?” Willie said. “Uh. Hi.”</p><p>She smiled tightly at him, trying not to freak out.</p><p>“Why are you – wait, did Alex and the others, did they miss the call?” To Willie’s credit, he looked upset by this. Nightingale nodded, not trusting her voice. Willie ran a hand through his hair, pulling out the tie as he did.</p><p>“Look, maybe I can get them, this is yours –“ he said.</p><p>“We’re wasting time!” the Queen called, poking her head out of the van irritably. “Get changed, and let’s go. Unless you <em>like</em> letting criminals get away?”</p><p>Flynn and Willie looked apologetically at Nightingale, who waved them on. The Queen was right, even if she was being a jerk about it.</p><p>“Maybe if this keeps happening, they’ll put you on a team where you don’t have to worry about the pressure of leadership,” the Queen said. “I know it must be so hard for you. Your mom cracked under the stress, too, didn’t she?”</p><p>Nightingale clenched her fists, letting out a short shriek of frustration that cracked the van window by the Queen’s head. The Queen pulled back, startled.</p><p>Then she laughed.</p><p>“Have a nice night,” she said. “Let the professionals do their jobs.”</p><p>Julie ripped off her mask and stormed away, angry tears burning her eyes. Where the <em>hell</em> were her teammates?</p><p> </p><p>It had been a whirlwind night of dancing, music, and random glitzy Hollywood heroes telling Reggie things about Star Wars he kind of wished they’d left buried. Willie had disappeared after the first number, which meant Alex was looking around for him constantly, but overall Caleb seemed like a cool guy from the few moments he’d talked to them.</p><p>It had mostly been small talk, borderline “so-you-want-to-date-my-ward” kind of stuff, really. But it was getting late, and even Reggie was getting a little tired – there were only so many times a chorus girl with real (real!) spangly wings could twirl you around before you started to wonder when your bedtime was.</p><p>“So,” Caleb said from behind Reggie, startling him, Alex, and Luke. “William told me you had a question for me, Alex?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah,” Alex said. “Did you see where he went, or…”</p><p>“I’m afraid he had to run,” Caleb said. “School business. But before he did, he told me about your little… problem. Come, let’s talk in private.”</p><p>As they left the noise and the clamour of the club, heading towards the backstage area, Reggie’s pocket buzzed. He pulled it out and was hit with a sudden wave of fear.</p><p>“Dude,” he said. “I’ve got like ten missed calls. From Julie and… and the school!”</p><p>“What?” Luke said, pulling out his own phone. “Dude, Alex, we gotta go.”</p><p>“What, but –“ Alex glanced at Caleb, who was watching them wordlessly. “Look, just – can you do it? You said Willie told you, so…”</p><p>“This club serves many different purposes for the hero community,” Caleb said. “And yes, I have been known to… supplement heroes’ powers as needed. As you can imagine, it’s a closely guarded secret. Wouldn’t want that knowledge getting out!”</p><p>“Right,” Alex said. Reggie was pretty sure it already had, if the Ghost was any indication, but he didn’t speak up. “Look, we should go.”</p><p>“Of course, can’t keep your friend waiting,” Caleb said with a smile. “Come back any time.”</p><p>Alex looked at Reggie and Luke. Reggie shrugged. Luke was bouncing on the balls of his feet, probably eager to get to Julie.</p><p>“I’ll have Fuego drive you home,” Caleb said. “I hope to see you again soon. William speaks so <em>highly</em> of you.”</p><p>“He – he does?” Alex swallowed, face flushing for the second time today.</p><p>“Dude, even I know that, and I mostly see him when you’re <em>around</em>,” Reggie said. Caleb chuckled. Alex winced sheepishly. Reggie looked around for Luke’s reaction, but Luke was already heading for the door.</p><p>“Fuego!” Caleb called, waving with a little waggle of his fingers at Reggie and Alex as they hurried after Luke. “Take William’s new friends home, won’t you?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ok everybody think about the cuteness of Willie and Alex watching a show together and none of the implications of any of the rest of this.<br/>If you don't read my other work, just know that I'm going to try and update this every other day? at least for the next, uh.... sixty days. that sounds like the right math. maybe it's 58 days at this point. but that should take us a decent ways into this monstrosity. (the length of which is, on a meta level, why Caleb hasn't made a major pitch yet - narratively, he's still feeling this out, and there's a lot more politics going into this than in the ghost world where Caleb has all the power)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. What's in the Box</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Where have you <em>been</em>?” Julie snapped as soon as Luke stepped in the door. He dragged his feet as he approached her, feeling guilty. He’d only managed to listen to a few voicemails, the first one from the school and the first two from Julie, but it had been enough to piece things together.</p><p>Reggie and Alex pressed close to Luke.</p><p>“Julie, I’m really sorry,” Alex said. “It’s my fault, we were with Willie –“</p><p>“<em>Willie</em> answers his phone!” Julie snapped.</p><p>“He – What?”</p><p>Julie crossed her arms with a huff.</p><p>“Nick, Carrie, Flynn, Willie – they all showed up. Because theirs was the team that got called in when my team, <em>our</em> team, didn’t show.”</p><p>“But he didn’t say anything,” Alex said quietly. Julie’s face softened slightly.</p><p>“I don’t think he knew they were a replacement,” Julie said. “He looked upset when he saw me. But that doesn’t change the fact that you let me down. What was it? Your stupid band? It can’t have been a date if Willie left like that.”</p><p>“Don’t talk about the band like that!” Luke said. “Look, I didn’t ask to be a superhero. We <em>chose</em> the band. I thought you liked it.”</p><p>“It’s fun. But don’t you think we have better things to worry about?”</p><p>It was like arguing with his parents all over again. Luke stared at Julie, trying to reconcile this with the girl who’d been singing with them lately, the girl who he’d genuinely thought a kindred spirit.</p><p>“Why does this matter so much to you?” he snapped. “What’s so important about fighting a couple petty criminals? So what if it was the band? At least music makes people happy!”</p><p>“Happy?” Julie repeated. “That’s great, Luke, but when you’re a superhero it’s just a silly dream. And this, the school, being a hero, that’s <em>actually</em> important.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“We save people!”</p><p>“No,” Luke said, because maybe his anger was getting the best of him but he was still an empath, and there was a strange undercurrent to Julie’s anger the longer the argument went on. “Why does it matter so much to <em>you?</em>”</p><p>“Because it’s what my mom <em>died</em> for!” Julie snapped.</p><p>Luke felt like he’d been flash-frozen.</p><p>“Julie, I am… <em>so </em>sorry,” he said.</p><p>“What happened?” Reggie spoke up quietly. Julie looked at him, and her eyes were reddened and teary.</p><p>“You don’t have to tell us,” Alex said. Julie set her jaw stubbornly, like he’d made her decide she had to tell just by saying that.</p><p>“Come on,” she said. “My room.”</p><p>Ray stopped them before they could get up the stairs, looking Luke and the others over carefully.</p><p>“Are you all right? I was worried when Julie said you hadn’t shown up,” he said.</p><p>“We’re fine,” Luke said. Ray was nice enough, but he wondered where Julie’s dismissiveness towards music came from, and in his experience parents seemed like a safe bet.</p><p>“We just couldn’t hear our phones,” Reggie said. “We’re really sorry. I tried to text you! On the way back!”</p><p>Ray smiled faintly, setting a hand on Reggie’s shoulder.</p><p>“I got your text,” he said. “Thank you. Just… keep your ringers on, from now on, ok?”</p><p>Luke honestly wasn’t sure how to do that, and Julie had said that everybody kept their phones on vibrate, but he wasn’t about to get in an argument with Julie’s dad when he already was arguing with Julie.</p><p>“Can you give us a minute, Dad?” Julie asked. “Team meeting.”</p><p>Her dad frowned, reaching out to her. She tensed under his touch, and Ray pulled back.</p><p>“Ok,” he said. “Don’t stay up too much later, any of you.”</p><p>“We won’t, Ray!” Reggie promised. They resumed their trek up to Julie’s room, tensions only slightly lessened by the pause.</p><p>Luke looked around as he stepped inside Julie’s room for the first time. It was full of light colours, butterfly imagery, drawings and photos that seemed to chronicle Julie’s life. He drifted over to the shelves on the other side of her bed, noticing a box. He kind of wished he hadn’t. Once Luke saw a box, it was impossible for him to forget about until he knew what was in it.</p><p>“Luke?”</p><p>Oh, Julie was <em>annoyed</em>. That was right. He turned back to her sheepishly.</p><p>“Sorry, I just wondered what was in the box.”</p><p>“You don’t really get to ask me that right now,” she said, which was fair. She crossed her arms and looked around at Luke, Reggie, and Alex. “You really want to know about my mom?”</p><p>“You don’t have to tell us,” Alex said again. Julie looked down at her feet, then lifted her chin to stare directly at Luke.</p><p>“You already know about Carrie’s dad,” she said. “And I told you my mom unmasked him. They were friends. Carrie and I grew up together. And my mom – she felt bad about it, after, she didn’t realise she’d ruin Carrie’s life. But Carrie’s dad escaped prison, and my mom went after him.”</p><p>The grief was heavy, like a weight on Luke’s tongue. Was it just the memory of Julie’s mom? The guilt over losing Carrie’s friendship?</p><p>“You were talking about how your mom died,” Reggie spoke up quietly. “Is that – I mean, the whole thing with Bobby didn’t happen that long ago, did it?”</p><p>“No,” Julie said quietly. “No, it wasn’t long at all. My mom disappeared for months, chasing him. Then – they didn’t tell us, at first, but they found her. She’d been in a fight.”</p><p>Luke wasn’t sure who the sick, empty feeling was coming from. Maybe Julie. Maybe himself. Maybe all four of them at once.</p><p>“Did Bobby…” Alex asked quietly.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Julie said. “They think he – I don’t… I don’t like to pretend I know.”</p><p>She drew in a breath, letting her arms swing by her side in a gesture of forced happiness. Nothing about her emotions had changed, though.</p><p>“So this stuff matters to me,” she said. “Being a hero, it’s what my mom gave her life for. I can’t turn my back on that. Understand?”</p><p>“We really didn’t mean to leave you like that,” Luke said. He caught himself glancing back at the box, mentally scolded himself, and looked at Julie again. It didn’t help that he had no idea what to say to her. What <em>could</em> he say about her mom’s death? “If we’d known, we would have been there.”</p><p>“What was so important you couldn’t even check your phones?” Julie asked. “We’re supposed to be a team.”</p><p>“It’s my fault,” Alex said.</p><p>“No, we all wanted to go,” Luke said. He swallowed, admitting for the first time, “I think we all wanted to know.”</p><p>“Know what?” Julie asked.</p><p>“I’m trying to figure out how to see the past,” Alex said. “Willie said – he said his guardian might be able to help.”</p><p>“So,” Julie said. “You have been basically pushing yourselves into every aspect of my life, my <em>future</em>. We are supposed to be friends. Teammates. And you can’t put aside the past for long enough to come when I need you? We have the internet! My dad <em>knew</em> Trevor – Bobby – whoever he is. There’s all kinds of information out there. What is Willie’s guardian supposed to give you, exactly, that nothing else can?”</p><p>Luke swallowed.</p><p>Even the glare dropped from Julie’s face. Now, she just seemed disappointed. Even her sadness, her anger, her grief – they were muted, under a layer of flatness and reserve that Luke had only ever felt from his parents before. His heart picked up in a panic.</p><p>That was how people felt when they gave up on him.</p><p>“You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?” she asked.</p><p>“No, we can tell you,” Luke blurted quickly. He looked at Alex hopefully.</p><p>“We should tell you,” Reggie said quietly.</p><p>“Yeah, uh… Look, Willie’s guardian, Caleb, he can give people powers,” Alex said quietly.</p><p>“Like – like the Ghost?” Now Julie was shocked. “You <em>know</em> how they are about artificial superpowers.”</p><p>“I’m not even sure I’ll go through with it,” Alex said. “We didn’t get the chance to talk to him much.”</p><p>“Yeah, and we never have to tell the school if he does,” Luke added. “It’s just so we can know what happened to the people we love.”</p><p>He realised after he said it Julie might think he was trying to manipulate her, because people sometimes thought that when he said something like that, but he’d really been thinking just about their situation, not hers.</p><p>She looked at him, and she felt sorry for him.</p><p>“Don’t do that again,” she said. “And if you want me back in your band, you have to <em>prove</em> you take school seriously, too. Ok?”</p><p>“Definitely,” Luke said immediately.</p><p>“Yeah,” Alex said. Reggie nodded fervently.</p><p>“We really didn’t mean to do it this time, Julie, and the band is great with you, and we’re really sorry,” Reggie said quickly. Julie almost smiled, but she was still a mix of heavy, tangled sadness and betrayal on the inside.</p><p>“It’s late, you should get some sleep,” Julie said. “I – Thank you for being honest.”</p><p>“Of course,” Luke said as he followed the others out. He paused, reaching out to Julie, unable to handle her misery. Julie should be happy.</p><p>She jerked away from him, the wariness back in her eyes.</p><p>“Sorry,” Luke said. “I – that was dumb. Sorry.”</p><p>“Good night, Luke,” Julie said, firmly but not unkindly. That was probably the best he could hope for, but as he went to the door, a thought reoccurred to him.</p><p>“Julie, what’s in the box?” he asked pleadingly.</p><p>“Out!” she said. Still, even if Luke hadn’t gotten his answer, at least she had a little laugh in her voice when she said that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sometimes... you take a scene from Flying Solo and put it in the context of Finally Free, with an extra topping of angst... You're welcome?<br/>There is purposefully a lot of ambiguity around Rose's death - the popular, accepted theory is that Trevor did it. There's really no evidence against it. But as you can imagine, that's a little hard to swallow when there's only circumstantial evidence for it and you grew up with him as a cool uncle figure, so Julie's not about to make any accusations.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. You've Got Him All Wrong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Reggie was pretty sure Julie had been avoiding Luke, which was weird because she also seemed to have let go of most of her anger at them. They’d all been good about school, kept their phones close in case of emergencies, and even tried to help Julie come up with strategies for their powers. In return, Julie had finally come back to rehearsal after a week. They were working better in fights, too.</p><p>Not tonight, so much, though.</p><p>Nothing had gone right from the moment they got out of the van. Instead of a quick, stealthy exit on a sidestreet, Reggie had jumped out directly into a puddle. Tomorrow Lad had almost run into him because he took so long to recalibrate after the surprise of getting his feet wet, and then Prince Charming had jumped directly into his back, sending them all yelping and stumbling into the street.</p><p>That had alerted the guards working the illegal casino, which meant Nightingale’s plan of singing her way in and luring the owner out was shot. Then, it turned out at least one of the guards had super strength, which they found out when he pulled a fire hydrant up from the ground and threw it at Reggie.</p><p>Tomorrow Lad shoved him out of the way. Reggie glanced at him, and was pleased to see a tiny, smug grin on his face. That had been his power at work. Super cool.</p><p>“Lu – Look out!” Nightingale stammered, and Reggie whipped around to see the fire hydrant had somehow peeled back around and hit Prince Charming in the back. Nightingale scrambled over to him and gently helped him roll over. Reggie wanted to dash over to them, but that would leave Tomorrow Lad alone against a guy with super strength and a guy who could probably move things with his mind.</p><p>Not that Reggie would be of much use.</p><p>He ran for the maybe-telekinetic one anyway, because the nice thing about mental powers was if you surprised them, they couldn’t do much.</p><p>Reggie did not manage to surprise the guy, he found out when he was sent skidding backwards. He scrambled to his feet, trying to think, only to slam his hands over his ears as Nightingale let out a shriek.</p><p>She was clinging to Prince Charming’s hand – ok, now Reggie could see why Nightingale had protested the name – and the pitch of her voice was just barely audible, even though it <em>felt</em> loud. The guards staggered, clutching their own ears. Reggie swallowed hard, standing up even though the ringing in his ears made him want to curl up in a ball. He just had to – wait, Julie was holding Luke’s <em>hand.</em></p><p>That was not the point.</p><p>“What is going <em>on</em> –“ A man in a suit came out of the building, only to pale at the sight of Reggie and his friends. He certainly <em>looked</em> like the guy they were supposed to find.</p><p>Finally, Reggie’s luck was changing. He lunged forward one more time, tackling the suited man. Tomorrow Lad helped him wrestle handcuffs onto the guy. As they got him up, Reggie looked over to Nightingale and Prince Charming, which really did sound like a bad fairytale the longer he thought their names together. Nightingale helped Prince Charming to stand, still screaming, one hand in his and the other clapped over one of his ears. Prince Charming was covering the other.</p><p>With a glance at Tomorrow Lad, Reggie started helping push their captive towards the van.</p><p>Finally, Nightingale stopped for breath.</p><p>“You probably want to stay down,” Reggie barely heard her say over the roar in his ears. She helped Prince Charming into the van as Tomorrow Lad climbed in the back. Reggie scrambled into the main part of the van. He started to look Luke over frantically as Julie scooted away, like she’d never touched Luke at all.</p><p>“Are you ok?” Reggie asked.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m good,” Luke said. He hissed as Reggie gently palpated a rib.</p><p>“You’re not ok,” he said.</p><p>“I’m fine,” Luke insisted.</p><p>“You’re on recovery,” Reggie told him. “Or you will be as soon as we get a teacher to sign off.”</p><p>Luke glanced over at Julie, looking nervous. Reggie was pretty sure they had nothing to worry about, though – after her concern for Luke in the fight, he was pretty sure she wasn’t about to tell Luke he had to fight on a broken or bruised set of ribs.</p><p>“Hey,” Reggie wheedled. “We get more time to practice.”</p><p>“Yeah, if you take care of yourself I <em>might</em> be persuaded to find one of my songs I wrote,” Julie offered up. Luke perked up, and then winced in pain.</p><p>Julie looked a little nervous, but she smiled when Reggie mouthed a <em>thank you</em> in her direction. She didn’t exactly offer up her musical skills a lot. He was looking forward to it, actually.</p><p>True to his word, Luke was cooperative and calm while he recovered. True to <em>her</em> word, Julie brought out a song she’d been working on before her mom disappeared. It was unfinished, but together she and Luke made quick work of it. Julie still kept her distance and avoided Luke’s gaze, which Reggie knew was taking its toll on Luke, but she was talking to him more than she had since they went to meet Caleb.</p><p>Julie was really good at writing music. It kind of hurt Reggie’s heart a little that she didn’t seem to want anything to do with her own skills. But at least she was letting them play things she’d written, and this new song was <em>good</em>.</p><p>It was also the only time she’d looked Luke in the eyes since the fight when he’d been hurt.</p><p>“<em>I got a spark in me,” </em>Julie sang. Luke echoed her, and Reggie didn’t have to be an empath to see the delight on Luke’s face. He knew Luke was always happy to sing with somebody, but had he ever worn an expression like that when he sang with Reggie?</p><p>At least Luke looked happy. At least Julie was finally warming up to him again.</p><p>“<em>Been so long, and now we’re finally free!”</em> Julie sang, pulling away from Luke, and Luke caught Reggie’s eye. He looked like he’d just won the lottery. Reggie couldn’t blame him. Luke had really met his match in Julie, another magnetic personality with an amazing voice. It was kind of a miracle anyone could look away from either of them.</p><p>As the song finished, Luke turned to Julie with that same eager grin.</p><p>“Julie, that was amazing,” he said.</p><p>She ducked her head.</p><p>“You’d kill it onstage,” Luke said. Reggie winced. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alex slowly lower his head into his hands.</p><p>Julie paused, halfway through putting away her notebook.</p><p>“I don’t really have time, like I said,” she said.</p><p>“But you do!” Luke protested. “It wouldn’t be that different. We’re already practically ready to go onstage, you’re <em>that</em> good. Why are you afraid?”</p><p>“I’m not,” Julie said.</p><p>“You’re not scared, but you’re afraid,” Luke said. “Or – I don’t know, maybe the other way around. But you <em>love</em> music as much as we do, I can tell. It’s like you’re trying to hide from your own rad talent. Like – like you’re thinking about your mom every time I talk about performing.”</p><p>“Oh, great,” Alex muttered. Reggie gripped his bass nervously.</p><p>“I mean, I guess it makes sense, I’m sorry,” Luke said quickly. Julie didn’t look like she was about to say anything. “I didn’t mean – it’s just. I could help! Then you wouldn’t have to think about her all the time when you sing. It would – it would hurt less.”</p><p>“First of all, Luke, stay out of my head,” Julie said. “Second, don’t ever try to tell me what would help me heal. You think that all you need to do is wipe your emotions away? That you can just hide from the bad things forever? Well, you can’t, Luke, and someday you’re going to lose somebody who makes you realise it.”</p><p>Luke took a step back.</p><p>“Right, yeah,” Luke said. “That was a stupid idea, I’m – I’m sorry.”</p><p>Without even putting his guitar down, Luke fled.</p><p>“I know he shouldn’t have said that,” Reggie spoke up, before he even really knew it. “But… but you’ve got him all wrong.”</p><p>“How?” Julie asked. Her voice was clipped, but not completely angry. Reggie still lost his confidence, though, and he glanced over at Alex for help.</p><p>“Luke… lost his parents a while before they thought we were dead,” Alex said. “Not – they’re still around. We looked them up, they still live in the same house. Which…”</p><p>“It’s actually kind of a surprise,” Reggie said hoarsely.</p><p>“What do you mean?” Julie asked.</p><p>“Luke’s always wanted to be a musician,” Alex said quietly. “He argued with his parents over it, constantly. But they thought we wouldn’t make it, you know, and we had school. Luke ran away.”</p><p>“He stopped coming to school,” Reggie said. Julie jerked her head up to stare at him.</p><p>“But – the truancy laws,” she said.</p><p>“Yeah,” Alex said. “His parents got arrested because Luke wasn’t coming to school. They were <em>this</em> close to declaring him a villain.”</p><p>“But – but he came back,” Julie said. “You guys were on a mission together when you –“</p><p>“That was our first mission together in months,” Reggie said. “He came back as soon as he found out about his parents, but they didn’t even give him a chance to go home. They sent us out right away.”</p><p>“But – That’s horrible,” Julie said. “They let his parents go?”</p><p>“Apparently,” Alex said. “We didn’t know until we found them online.”</p><p>“Why didn’t he say anything?”</p><p>“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Luke’s not the type to dwell on bad things,” Reggie said.</p><p>“He’s not always great with feelings,” Alex said. Julie laughed. Reggie supposed that was fair. It was kind of an understatement. “But Luke really does know what it’s like to lose people. And to feel guilty about it.”</p><p>Julie stiffened.</p><p>“Who said I feel guilty?” she said.</p><p>“Julie,” Alex said. “I’m a superhero with anxiety, I know what guilt looks like on people.”</p><p>She smiled ruefully.</p><p>“Look, I’ll talk to him,” Julie said. “And… do you know where his parents live?”</p><p>Reggie rattled off the address he knew by heart.</p><p>“Why?” he asked when he was done.</p><p>“I don’t know, yet,” Julie said. She shrugged. “But I have a few ideas.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>:)<br/>Reggie's bi is showing, at least. And Julie touched Luke! Once.<br/>...also copious angst and more on the horizon. This is not unusual around here.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Unsaid Emily</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Julie found Luke the next day in the studio, flipping through an old notebook.</p><p>“Hey,” he said, starting to get up then wincing and sitting back down. Julie sat down on the other end of the couch, facing him, trying to figure out what she should say. He’d eaten dinner in his room, last night, and Julie knew that was because of her. She’d had a lot of things she was right to say to him, but she also shouldn’t have snapped the way she did.</p><p>Now she just had to say that out loud.</p><p>“I didn’t realise I left my songs here, too,” he said. “Too bad. I mean, we could play them now! But it might have been nice…”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Julie said. Luke stared at her.</p><p>“I know,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing and he didn’t know why she was saying it. Julie wondered if people apologised to him much, or if they just assumed he could sense it and didn’t bother.</p><p>“Fine, you know. But it’s still worth saying,” Julie said. Luke stared at her with a funny half-smile, all at once pleased and puzzled. “And you should know Alex and Reggie told me a little about your parents.”</p><p>Luke looked down at his book.</p><p>“You wanna play some of these?” he said instead of answering her. “I dog-eared the ones I think you would slay.”</p><p>Julie took the book, not ready to let go of the conversation but not sure how to press forward past such blatant denial. She flipped through a few pages.</p><p>“Emily?” she asked. She looked up at Luke. “Who’s this?” She read a few lines before Luke snatched the book back.</p><p>“That one wasn’t dog-eared,” he said pointedly.</p><p>“I never knew you were such a romantic,” Julie said. Her face fell as Luke flinched. “I guess she’d be old by now.”</p><p>“Yeah, well,” Luke said. “It’s not that kind of song.”</p><p>The book had fallen open to that page easily, like he’d flipped there a lot even after the song was done.</p><p>“Who was it for?” Julie asked.</p><p>“My mom,” Luke admitted quietly.</p><p>And now Julie felt even guiltier. This conversation could have gone better, but at least Luke was opening up.</p><p>There was also her crazy idea. The really, really bad one that would get them in heaps of trouble.</p><p>“Do you want to go see her?” Julie asked. She’d searched the address the other guys gave her five times since yesterday afternoon, and pulled it up on her phone easily enough. Luke stared at her.</p><p>“We – we can’t. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to say screw the rules, but – school is important to you.”</p><p>“Not as important as family,” Julie said. Luke sucked in a breath, but he didn’t seem to know what he wanted to say. That was all right. Julie didn’t need to be an empath to know what he was feeling.</p><p>Moms were something they had in common, in a messed-up way.</p><p>“I’m going to call Flynn,” Julie said. “She knows how to stay off the school’s radar.”</p><p>One camera-stymieing set of hats and scarves later, and with Flynn and Reggie teaming up to mess with surveillance equipment on Julie and Luke’s route, they were standing on the front porch of Luke’s old house.</p><p>“This was a bad idea,” Luke said. “They probably won’t even want to see me.”</p><p>“Luke, they thought you were dead,” Julie said quietly. “Even if my mom had – had done something terrible, I’d want to know if she was alive. And you didn’t do anything really wrong. You just made a mistake.”</p><p>“Right,” Luke said. “Yeah.” He reached a trembling hand out to the doorbell. Just when Julie had almost worked up the nerve to take his hand and help him ring it, he pressed the button.</p><p>A tall, white man with thinning hair and glasses opened the door. There was something frail about him, like he’d been hurt too much for his lifetime.</p><p>“Can I help –” the man broke off, staring at Luke like he’d seen a ghost.</p><p>Julie supposed he had.</p><p>“Hi, Dad,” Luke said.</p><p>“Can we come in?” Julie asked. “Technically, we shouldn’t even be here.”</p><p>“Ye- yes, of course. Uh, I’m… Mitch.”</p><p>“I’m Julie,” she said, smiling at him as gently as she knew how. Luke was still on the porch, and she gently inclined her head.</p><p><em>Come on in</em>, Julie tried to say with her eyes. It seemed to work, since Luke stumbled in on shaky legs.</p><p>“How –” Mitch rubbed his face, unable to take his eyes off Luke.</p><p>“Did I hear the doorbell?” a woman’s voice asked. Julie turned to see a woman who must have been Luke’s mother, the way she froze when she saw him.</p><p>“Mom,” Luke said hoarsely. “Mom, I’m so – I’m <em>so </em>sorry.”</p><p>“Luke?” she gasped, reaching for him. “How? Luke, where have you <em>been?</em> I – I don’t…” She covered her mouth, tears filling her eyes. Mitch reached for her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He bowed his head so his nose just brushed her hair, and Julie realised they were both weeping.</p><p>“No, no, don’t cry, please,” Luke said. He reached out to them, letting them pull him in, burying his face in the space between their shoulders. “I’m back, it’s happy, right?”</p><p>Their crying quieted. To Julie’s alarm, Luke’s parents also stopped hugging him.</p><p>“It’s so nice to see you,” Luke’s mother said vaguely. Luke took a step back, staring between his parents. They both had gentle, benign smiles on their faces, like he’d just come home from school and not twenty-five years of presumed death.</p><p>“Mom?” he said quietly.</p><p>“Luke,” Julie said. She tried to keep the horror from her voice, but it didn't work. “Did you – what did you do?”</p><p>He looked back at her with a panicked expression.</p><p>"Is something wrong?" Mitch asked mildly. Julie winced. Luke stumbled back from his parents.</p><p>“I just didn’t want them to be sad,” he said. “I didn’t –” He bolted out of the house.</p><p>“Luke!” Julie called. She glanced back at Luke’s parents, who were wandering off to do other things, still smiling. They certainly weren’t going anywhere, in that contextless happiness. She ran after Luke.</p><p>He hadn’t gone far, thankfully. He was just sitting on the front porch step, hands in his hair, rocking back and forth.</p><p>“You were right,” he said. “I should never – I messed it all up. I <em>just</em> got back to them, and they don’t even –”</p><p>“Luke,” Julie said. “How are they supposed to be as happy as they should be if they don’t know how sad losing you made them?”</p><p>He stared at her.</p><p>“I don’t want you taking away my pain,” Julie said. “Because I don’t want to forget even for a moment how much my mom means to me.”</p><p>She offered him her hand.</p><p>“It wears off, doesn’t it? In a few minutes?” she asked. Luke stared at her hand.</p><p>“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, it’s never permanent.”</p><p>“So we’ll go back in,” Julie said. “And we’ll try again.”</p><p>“I’m not… Julie, I’m not good at this,” Luke said. “I don’t know how to connect with people.”</p><p>“That’s why you like music, right?” Julie said. “Didn’t you write your mom a song?”</p><p>She wiggled her fingers to catch his attention. He looked down at her hand, the tear streaks on his cheeks sparkling in the afternoon light.</p><p>“Do you need the music?” Julie asked him softly.</p><p>“No,” Luke said. “I know it by heart.”</p><p>He took her hand, and Julie felt exactly as sad and happy and fond as she had in the second before. She gripped his hand tight and pulled him to his feet, and when they walked inside she wrapped an arm around him to keep him steady.</p><p>“Mitch?” Julie called. “Emily?”</p><p>They came running. Luke’s power had worn off, it seemed, because in two seconds they were pulling Luke close again.</p><p>“You didn’t leave,” Emily said tearfully.</p><p>“No,” Luke said. “No, I’m sorry, I messed up –”</p><p>“You always hated seeing me cry,” Emily murmured into his hair. She held his shoulders, just far enough back to look at his face. “I’d forgotten how tall you are.”</p><p>Luke’s lips trembled, and he sniffed in a way that bordered on a sob.</p><p>“Mom,” he said, before he started to really cry. Emily pulled him close, crying freely. Julie met Mitch’s eyes over the top of Luke’s bowed head.</p><p>“How is this possible?” Mitch asked quietly when Luke and Emily seemed to have caught their breath. He kept one hand on Luke’s shoulder like he was afraid his son would disappear.</p><p>“That’s… kind of a long story,” Julie said. “Most of the details are classified, but we can tell you what we know.”</p><p>“Oh, come, sit,” Emily said, seeming to realise for the first time that Julie was there. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t catch your name. Are you…”</p><p>“My name is Julie,” she offered as she sat gingerly on a chair. Luke’s parents sat on either side of him on the couch, still clinging to him. “I – I found Luke.”</p><p>“She saved us,” Luke said.</p><p>“Us? You’re all –“</p><p>“I came back when I heard what happened,” Luke said. “But they said they had an emergency. And our team was there, except Bobby, so they sent us out. It turned out it was Doctor Immortal, and we weren’t prepared, and – I don’t know what he did to keep us frozen all that time. It didn’t work on anybody else, it looks like.”</p><p>“They sent you after <em>Doctor Immortal</em>?” Emily repeated, horrified. It had taken a team of fully grown heroes to bring him down in the early 2000s, Julie remembered.</p><p>“I don’t – they didn’t know,” Luke said. “Anyway, Julie’s team found us. We’ve been staying with her family.”</p><p>“All three of you?” Mitch asked. Luke nodded.</p><p>Emily looked over at Julie.</p><p>“Thank you,” she said quietly. Julie shook her head, uncomfortable with the praise. She’d only been in the right place at the right time.</p><p>“So you’re back,” Emily said. “Your room, it’s the same, but I never did figure out where half your music things got off to –”</p><p>“They got left at the studio,” Luke said. “That’s actually where Julie lives, it’s ok, I have it all.” He faltered, and Julie thought she knew why.</p><p>“They won’t let the boys go back home,” Julie said softly. “Like I said, we shouldn’t even be here.”</p><p>“They don’t even want us to know our <em>son</em> and his friends are alive?” Emily demanded with steel in her voice. “If anyone has a right to know, it’s the families.”</p><p>Julie shook her head. She couldn’t explain it, either.</p><p>“Mom, Dad, I’m really – I am sorry,” Luke said. “I didn’t think it would go down the way it did. I never thought they’d blame you for it, I just wanted to – to live my life. That sounds really selfish.”</p><p>“No, Luke, no,” Emily said. “You have no idea how much I wanted to take back those things I said. How much we missed your voice.”</p><p>Julie raised her eyebrows at Luke. He swallowed visibly.</p><p>“I wrote you a song,” he said quietly. “Before – after I ran away but before everything happened.”</p><p>Looking between his parents nervously like he was asking for permission, Luke sat up a little straighter. He opened his mouth, but faltered.</p><p>Julie reached out and touched his hand. He turned his palm up and gave her hand a quick squeeze.</p><p>“<em>First things first, we start the scene in reverse,” </em>Luke sang with a rough, quiet vibrato. His parents listened, drinking up every note until he was done like it was water and not Luke’s voice they’d gone without for two and a half decades. Julie left her fingers entwined with Luke’s the whole time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I have had this scene in mind since we first decided Luke was an empath. You're all welcome for this pain.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. I'll Learn How to Fiddle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Julie gave up on keeping Luke out of reach after that. If he hadn’t tried to mess with her emotions on a day as messy and hard and sad as that, he could probably be trusted on a regular day – and after what happened with his parents, Julie had the feeling he wouldn’t be influencing anyone’s feelings any time soon.</p><p>There had been a moment where Julie almost thought Luke would stay with his parents. There had been a moment she wanted him to. But they weren’t even supposed to know he was alive, and Julie and her team were <em>definitely </em>under surveillance. They’d be found out immediately, and the last thing Luke wanted was his parents back in jail.</p><p>Emily and Mitch had protested, insisting they didn’t care what happened to them, that they wanted to fight the system keeping Luke from them. Then Luke had started to cry, and they stopped.</p><p>Julie had felt like crying, too. She knew the administration in charge of the school had its reasons. But could it really do much damage for the Pattersons to have their son back? Surely they could hide the truth from anybody who wasn’t allowed to know Luke’s identity.</p><p>But none of them was really ready for a legal fight with the government, even a subsection of the government, so Julie and Luke had donned their disguises once more and left as soon as Flynn texted to say she’d cleared their path of surveillance.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Luke,” Julie had said on the bus back home. They’d stopped to get rid of their disguises, changed buses a few times to mix up their route just in case, and it was finally the last stretch of the ride. It was late enough that Julie’s stomach had started to growl.</p><p>“It’s ok,” Luke had said. “I mean, there was a time I thought I’d never see them again. This was – it was good.”</p><p>The bus had bounced right then, and Julie had accidentally knocked him with her shoulder. He’d stiffened in alarm, and Julie had just smiled wryly at him and nudged him with her shoulder again, on purpose that time.</p><p>So maybe now they were touchier. Maybe, when they rehearsed – <em>played</em>, Julie kept saying, though she could feel herself getting more and more serious about the way she sang things – Julie’s eyes would catch Luke’s and she’d get swept up in his excitement. Maybe they stayed up late, talking out chord progressions and rhyme schemes and the ideal number of verses before and after the bridge.</p><p>That was just a thing friends did, when they were bonding.</p><p>On a rare day when it was just Julie in the studio (Willie was showing the guys to a museum exhibit that had just opened, which Julie was pretty sure was meant to be a date with Alex until Alex had panicked and assumed Luke and Reggie were invited, too) she found herself daydreaming about singing a love song with Luke. With a groan, she let her head drop onto the piano, her forehead pressing a few keys and making a terrible sound.</p><p>“Are you ok?”</p><p>“Reggie!” Julie said, sitting bolt upright. “Weren’t you with the others?”</p><p>“That’s kind of a long story,” Reggie said. “I didn’t have bus fare, so I said they should go ahead, and then the bus I was going to catch after got a flat tire? I kind of gave up. Maybe the universe wants me to be here.”</p><p>“Do you… You believe that kind of thing?” Julie asked awkwardly. She supposed somebody from a religious family didn’t have much room to judge, but it was new coming from Reggie.</p><p>“Not really, but it’s the kind of thing people say when this happens,” Reggie said. He leaned his elbows on the edge of the piano, staring across at her. “Are you ok?”</p><p>“I’m fine,” Julie said. Her mouth twitched into a smile for a second before she wrestled it under control. Reggie raised his eyebrows at her.</p><p>“You’ve been hanging out with Luke a lot,” he said in a sing-songy voice.</p><p>“So do you!” Julie said. Not the best comeback. “We’re teammates!” Still not a great comeback, but with the added bonus of being true.</p><p>“I was just gonna say it’s nice that you’re feeling more comfortable around him,” Reggie said, looking mildly perplexed by her defensiveness. “I was… I was kind of, um. Worried. I don’t really like when people fight.”</p><p>Julie didn’t know much about his life before 2020, but she knew enough to know that was an understatement.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Julie said quietly. “We talked it out. We were both just… trying to pursue the most meaningful thing.”</p><p>Reggie smiled at her.</p><p>“That sounds nice,” he said. “What did you decide it is?”</p><p>Julie snorted. “We didn’t. It’s all questions all the way.” Now it was Reggie’s turn to snort.</p><p>“Were you working on a song?” he asked.</p><p>“Kind of,” Julie admitted. “I – I don’t know if I want to share it, though, it’s a little… Kind of sappy? Luke doesn’t seem like the type to write love songs.”</p><p>“It’s a love song?” Reggie said immediately. His jaw dropped, just a bit, as he realised. “Wait, did you write a love song <em>for Luke</em>?”</p><p>“Reggie!” Julie exclaimed. She weighed her options. She wasn’t about to lie to her friend. “I’m trying not to think about it.”</p><p>“Why? Because you’re afraid he’ll sense it? Because believe me, Luke <em>never</em> knows when somebody has a crush on him.”</p><p>“No, because I’m ace and – wait, what?” Julie stared at Reggie, who stared back at her like he was a rabbit in the dark she’d just found with a flashlight. “Reggie.”</p><p>“What?” he said, but he looked way too nervous for that to have been a friendly observation.</p><p>“Reggie, do you have a crush on Luke?” Julie asked softly.</p><p>“No!” Reggie said. “I mean, Luke’s great. And smart, and nice, and he sings really well and he had really nice arms, but – You remember how you were talking about being asexual?”</p><p>That was not where Julie had expected Reggie’s protest to go.</p><p>“Yeah,” she said, trying to look as supportive as humanly possible.</p><p>“So, I do like people, you know, like that. Sexually,” Reggie said quickly. “But not Luke. And if I really liked him wouldn’t that mean –“</p><p>“Not necessarily,” Julie said. It wasn’t great to interrupt him, probably, but there seemed to be a lot of holes in Reggie’s education, and this was something she could work with. “I mean, there’s demisexual people, but there’s grey-aces too. Who you’re attracted to isn’t always who you’d actually like to date.”</p><p>“Oh,” Reggie said softly. “What – what do you feel when you look at Luke? How do you know you like him?”</p><p>“Well, he’s smart and nice and he sings well and he has nice arms,” Julie repeated back to him teasingly. Reggie took a moment to realise what she’d done, then laughed. “I don’t know, I can talk to him. I know I didn’t trust him at first, but… he apologises? He listens? He doesn’t get weird when I apologise to him. And he has a really nice smile.”</p><p>Reggie laughed wistfully.</p><p>“Yeah, he does,” he agreed. His face fell and he looked at Julie pleadingly. “Is this – I don’t want this to be weird. You’re an awesome friend! I love you, I don’t want to mess things up if you want to date Luke –“</p><p>“Reggie, I feel like I should be saying that to you, you’ve known him <em>forever</em>,” Julie protested. “Anyway, if you –“ She cut herself off. That wouldn’t be a fair thing to say, especially if Reggie was grey-ace like she suspected.</p><p>“What?” Reggie asked.</p><p>“No, I was being silly, and kind of mean,” Julie said. “Just… a lot of people aren’t interested in dating aces, so I was going to make a bad joke about you having a better chance than me. But it sounds like maybe you’re demi or grey, and it would be a gross joke to make anyway.”</p><p>“Luke’s not like that,” Reggie said. “I get – I get why you’re afraid. But Luke wouldn’t do that to anybody. Especially not you.”</p><p>Julie looked down at the piano keys. Boyfriends and sexualities and dating weren’t things she was used to talking about. Nick had been her longtime crush, and he was safe. First, unattainable because of his status. Then, because of Carrie.</p><p>Now she was crushing on Luke, and she was intensely aware that there was nothing making this crush impossible. Nothing but things that Luke might say.</p><p>“Do you wanna show me the song you were doing?” Reggie said. “I can show you mine.”</p><p>“You’re writing a song?” Julie said, intrigued. He’d helped with a few basslines and things, but he hadn’t been terribly involved with the process Luke and Julie had started.</p><p>“I wrote a love song, too,” Reggie said. “Luke hasn’t actually read it.”</p><p>“The way you say that makes me think you tried,” Julie said, worried. Reggie bounded over to the coffee table where Luke’s notebook lay and tugged a sheet of paper free.</p><p>“He just doesn’t like country,” Reggie said.</p><p>“You write country,” Julie said.</p><p>“Yeah,” Reggie said with carefree pride as he joined her at the piano, setting his hands at the ready to play the chords of this new piece. “I figure if we make it big we can put out a country album just to say we branched out. I shred on the banjo.”</p><p>Julie looked at the music, and tried not to giggle. The title was funny.</p><p>Then again, if it was a love song, the horse was probably a metaphor, and that was just… sweet.</p><p>“Then I’ll learn how to fiddle,” Julie said. “Show me.” She pressed a little closer, resting her chin on his shoulder as he talked over the details his song.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I promised you ship content and I am slowly but surely delivering on that. <br/>Also, coming out! An ace Reggie! (grey asexual, to be exact, as they discuss is a possibility here - demi ppl also don't necessarily have their attractions line up with the people they want to pursue relationships with, to my understanding, but the implication Reggie's dancing around is that he'll be attracted to strangers but not his wonderful amazing best friend so surely he can't be in love with Luke??? look sometimes you gotta throw all the asexual coming out and internalised nonsense stuff in a blender and see what happens. This chapter, apparently, is what happens.)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Nothing to Lose</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were at the grocery store when they saw Caleb again. It was kind of a weird moment for Alex, because Caleb wasn’t exactly the kind of person he would ever imagine picking up a loaf of bread and some chips or whatever it was he was here for, but he supposed everybody needed groceries.</p><p>“Alex, wasn’t it? William’s friend,” Caleb called as he caught sight of him. Alex glanced at Ray and Reggie, a little nervous. Ray hadn’t said anything to them about the fact that they’d missed the call to go out with Julie, but Alex wasn’t dumb enough to think Ray didn’t have an opinion on it. It kind of worried him, how Ray hadn’t said anything. If he yelled at them, at least Alex would get why.</p><p>“Hi,” Alex said when neither of the people with him seemed to have any particular facial expressions about the situation. Reggie seemed surprised to see Caleb, and Ray curious, but that didn’t exactly give Alex any directions.</p><p>“Reggie, right? And you must be…” Caleb trailed off, offering his hand to Ray.</p><p>“Ray Molina,” he introduced himself, though his smile wasn’t the same one Alex had grown used to living with him.</p><p>“And you’re…” Caleb said with an inviting tilt of the head, clearly fishing for information about who Ray was to Alex and Reggie.</p><p>“We’re family,” Ray said with an easy confidence that left Alex feeling like he’d just been punched. Reggie looked delighted.</p><p>“Lovely,” Caleb said. “Well, Alex, I know our talk was cut short the other night, and I’m sure William would love to see you again. I’m sorry he had to run out, if either of us had any <em>idea</em> his team had been called to replace yours – Well. You’re all welcome to come over any time.”</p><p>“Uh, thanks,” Alex said.</p><p>“I don’t like it when I see someone in need who I could help, and have to walk away,” Caleb said. He patted Alex on the shoulder. “I’m here for you.”</p><p>Then he left the produce aisle. Alex realised Caleb didn’t have a basket. Maybe he’d only come in for one or two things?</p><p>“An interesting man,” Ray commented.</p><p>“He’s pretty cool,” Reggie agreed. “Hey, do you think Julie would want to see one of his shows?” he asked Alex. Alex shrugged.</p><p>“She’ll probably want to come just to keep an eye on us,” he said. Ray let out a soft chuckle at that.</p><p>“Come on,” he said. “We still have some things on the list.”</p><p>On the ride back, Alex texted Willie. They hadn’t really talked about much, since that night at Caleb’s club – Alex got the feeling Willie was a little embarrassed, but he wasn’t sure. Maybe Willie had realised that he wasn’t interested in Alex at all, and was trying to spare him an outright rejection by pulling away.</p><p>But at least Willie texted back right away, responding to Alex’s story of meeting Caleb with, <em>Do you want to come back to the club?</em></p><p>Alex thought about it.</p><p>He wanted to know more about Willie. He wanted to know more about the past. The club was a good way to get both, probably.</p><p><em>Yeah, whenever you want us to come</em>, Alex said.</p><p>There was a long pause, and then Willie sent back just a single smiley face. Then a second text:</p><p>
  <em>Sounds good.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Carlos groaned as his character met a grisly death again. He paused the video game and stretched, debating the pros and cons of getting up to get something to drink.</p><p>He didn’t want to move. But he was thirsty. And it wasn’t like he could yell for Julie to get him anything, because her team had been called out on some super special mission again. And his dad was working.</p><p>Carlos groaned and pushed himself off the couch, heading for the kitchen to grab a glass of water. He pulled down a glass, turned the sink on, and narrowed his eyes at the running water. It was a silly game he liked to play, imagining he could just pull things around with his mind. He pretended the water would lift up in a stream and float over to his cup.</p><p>Water flowed over the sides onto his hand. Carlos dropped the cup as a stream of water splashed along the sink and the ground, the faucet suddenly running once more directly down the drain. He hastily shut the water off and stared at the ground.</p><p>“No way,” Carlos said. He narrowed his eyes at the puddle. Could he just imagine it lifting up? Drying off the floor by just moving the water?</p><p>It raised a few inches up, gathering into a wobbly globe. Carlos let out a shout of excitement, lost concentration, and the water splashed back down.</p><p>“Carlos?” his dad asked. Carlos whirled around, nearly slipping in the puddle.</p><p>“Dad, I think I’m a waterbender!” he shouted. His dad stared at him.</p><p>“What?” he asked.</p><p>“Look, this is so cool, look!” Carlos stared at the water again, willing it to rise and not splash this time. Slowly, carefully, he brought it up over the edge of the sink and let it drop.</p><p>He turned to face his dad again, grinning broadly.</p><p>Carlos’s dad was just standing there, staring at Carlos like he’d stabbed somebody.</p><p>“Did – did you just learn how to do this?” his dad asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Carlos said. “Dad, that’s – I mean, that’s really cool, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, of course,” his dad said automatically. “<em>Mijo</em>, you can’t tell anyone. Promise me? You won’t show this to anyone or mention it or even <em>hint</em> at it. Do you understand?”</p><p>“But – I mean, I can tell Julie,” Carlos said. “And this is a superpower! Don’t I have to go to school? I get to be a superhero now!”</p><p>“No!” his dad said quickly. Carlos flinched, and his dad rubbed a hand over his mouth.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout,” he said ruefully. “Come here, Carlos.” He held out his arms. Carlos stepped closer and let himself be hugged, a little embarrassed but mostly worried about what his dad was thinking.</p><p>“I don’t want you to lie to your sister,” his dad said. “I’m just… not sure I’m ready to have you go off to one of those schools. Be careful who you talk to, all right? Don’t – just please don’t tell anyone.”</p><p>Carlos swallowed. If his dad wanted this to be a secret, there must be something really bad.</p><p>“Ok,” he said. His dad let out a shaky breath and clutched Carlos tighter.</p><p> </p><p>Luke could barely sit still in the van. The school had said they got a lead on the Ghost, that somebody had heard some kids talking about getting powers, and they’d figured out where that meeting was supposed to be.</p><p>This could be the moment they came face-to-face with whoever had been sending people out to do crime for no good reason. The person who’d managed to supply people with powers and information on Luke and his friends – the earplugs, to defend against Julie’s voice. The way they never let Luke get close, even though the others all packed a meaner punch. The way they would go after Alex just enough to make sure he could never stand still long enough to glimpse the future.</p><p>The Ghost knew way too much. Luke hoped that tonight, they’d find out why.</p><p>“Are you all ready?” Julie asked as the van pulled to a stop, a few inconspicuous blocks from the location.</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke said.</p><p>“I hope so,” Alex muttered. Reggie gave her a thumbs-up.</p><p>“Let’s go,” Julie said, opening the door and leading them quietly out onto the street. It was just another Hollywood alleyway, the kind Luke was used to seeing as he went in and out of nightclub stage doors. He and his friends made their way down the street to the for-lease building the meeting was supposed to be in, the long shadows from the weak orange sunset making the walk seem creepier than just another city street deserved. When they got close, Julie gestured for Luke and Alex to go around, while she kept Reggie with her by the front. Luke and Alex exchanged glances – Alex looked as nervous as Luke felt – and they started to move, looking for an opening.</p><p>“Found a door,” Luke whispered quietly over comms as he and Alex reached the back end of the building. It was a little spooky, how the Ghost apparently had no guards. He had a whole lot of powered people in his debt, after all. Surely he’d hire one or two to keep watch?</p><p>“I hear voices,” Julie said. “Three people. Must be the meeting.”</p><p>“Do you hear what they’re saying?” Luke asked. It was always good to get a feel for the room before he walked in.</p><p>“Uh… He’s just trying to sell them on the powers,” Julie reported. “You know, ‘you’ve got nothing to lose,’ that kind of thing.”</p><p>“Now what?” Alex asked quietly.</p><p>“Do you see anything?” Julie replied. Alex was silent, and Luke touched Alex’s elbow. Half to ground him, but half to reassure Luke that his friend was still beside him.</p><p>“No, nothing about tonight,” Alex said. “Just… some unrelated things. I guess I’m a little distracted.”</p><p>“Ok,” Julie said. “Plan A, then. We just bust in and surprise them.”</p><p>Luke had <em>not</em> known that was Plan A.</p><p>“Oh, wow,” came Reggie’s voice over comms. “Ok.”</p><p>“Three,” Julie said. Luke looked at Alex, who shrugged at him. Poor Alex was clearly panicked, but just as clearly wasn’t about to back down.</p><p>“Two,” Julie said. Luke clenched his fists, then flexed his fingers. All he had to do was get a hand on the Ghost, and things would go a lot easier.</p><p>“One,” Julie said, and Luke and Alex slammed their shoulders into the door, tumbling inside on top of each other in a groaning heap – it turned out that the door hadn’t been locked all the way, ro even latched.</p><p>Luke scrambled to his feet, pulling Alex up a second later as Julie’s eerily beautiful tones filled the air.</p><p>Time for a fight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Here we goooooooo<br/>With this chapter, we are officially off the canon rails. Essentially, the next 101 chapters or whatever the math is comes out to one, really long version of Stand Tall. I guess. Anyway, chaos reigns, Carlos gets a subplot, and soon so does pretty much everybody else. I am gleeful.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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